HOW TO IDENTIFY REAL HONEY

Honey is a valuable and highly sought-after product, making it a frequent target for fraud, which impacts genuine producers’ profits.

PHOTO: Instagram: Medeno carstvo Pećanac

Honey can be classified into monofloral and polyfloral types, depending on the types of plants from which it is derived. Typically syrupy and occasionally crystallized, honey’s colors may vary, but there are some general guidelines that can help distinguish real honey from fake.

Spotting fake honey is challenging because honey characteristics vary by nectar source, harvest season, and geographic origin. Efforts to combat counterfeit products are on the rise.

Researchers from Cranfield University in the UK have successfully tested new methods for authenticating honey, paving the way for faster, more accurate testing, according to Agroklub.

Honey is often counterfeited by adding inexpensive sugar syrups. A 2023 report by the European Commission indicated that 46% of 147 tested samples were likely mixed with cheap plant syrups.

Given that honey’s features vary by nectar source, harvest time, and geography, detecting counterfeits is challenging, and existing authentication methods are costly and time-consuming. Therefore, there is a growing need for reliable testing and new regulations to combat fraud, reports N1 Zagreb.

The research project, led by Dr. Maria Anastasiadis from Cranfield University in collaboration with the Food Standards Agency and the Science and Technology Council, used specialized light analysis techniques to detect fake honey without opening the jar.

Honey samples from the UK, enriched with rice and sugar beet syrups, were tested using non-invasive Raman spectroscopy. Originally developed for pharmaceutical and security diagnostics, this method proved highly accurate in detecting sugar syrups in honey. Scientists combined Raman spectroscopy with machine learning to successfully identify sugar syrups from various plant sources.

"Honey is valuable and in demand, making it a target for fraudsters, which not only affects authentic producers' profits but also erodes consumer trust. This method is an efficient and quick way to flag suspicious samples, helping the industry protect consumers and verify supply chains,” explained Dr. Anastasiadis, as reported by Krstarica.