Major Indian brands including Dabur, Patanjali, and Zandu are selling honey adulterated with a modified sugar from China, which can bypass some of the basic tests used to detect adulterated honey, researchers from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have alleged.
According to CSE director general Sunita Narain, the organisation launched an investigation when beekeepers in North India reported reduced profits despite a spike in honey sales during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is a food fraud more nefarious and more sophisticated than what we found in our 2003 and 2006 investigations into soft drinks; more damaging to our health than perhaps anything that we have found till now — keeping in mind the fact that we are still fighting against a killer COVID-19 pandemic with our backs to the wall,” Narain said in a statement on Wednesday.
The CSE study found that almost all brands of honey being sold in the Indian market are adulterated with sugar syrup. Investigations by CSE with laboratory studies in India and Germany revealed adulteration in honey with 77% of samples being found adulterated with sugar syrup.
“Sugar ingestion is directly linked to obesity, and obese people are more vulnerable to life-threatening infections,” added Narain.
According to the CSE, the honey adulteration business has evolved to bypass existing tests. Initially, sugars from corn, sugarcane, rice, and beetroot used to be added to honey to increase sweetness. Such adulteration is detected by what are known as C3 and C4 tests.
The new modified ‘Chinese sugar’, however, can only be detected by a test called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). NMR tests have very recently been made mandatory in India for honey that is meant for export.
Move to malign Indian brands of honey: Patanjali, Dabur
Dabur Honey in a statement denied that its honey was adulterated with sugar syrup. The company furnished a July 20 report from a German company, Bruker, that is listed as a manufacturer of NMR imaging product, and performed a test of Dabur’s honey composition profile, according to a report by The Print.
Dabur called the CSE report motivated. "We assure our consumers that Dabur Honey is 100% Pure. It is 100% indigenous, collected naturally from Indian sources, and packed with no added sugar or other adulterants. We also assure our consumers that Dabur does not import any Honey/syrup from China and our Honey is sourced entirely from Indian beekeepers," said a company spokesperson in a statement to the press.
Acharya Balkrishan, MD, Patanjali Ayurveda called it a plot to defame the Indian natural honey industry and manufacturers in a bid to promote processed honey. The Patanjali MD said, "Ayurveda has been recommending natural honey for ages to boost immunity and to scale down inflammatory cytokines factors. It further seems to be an international marketing design to promote German technology and machines which cost crores of rupees. Besides, it is an attempt to lower down the market share of Indian honey in international trade."
The Emami spokesperson, too, defended its Zandu honey brand: "Emami as a responsible organization ensures that it's Zandu Pure Honey conforms and adheres to all the protocols and quality norms and standards laid down by the Government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI." Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous body for food safety in India.
Almost all, except Apis Himalaya, passed the basic tests of purity, the CSE said.
However, when the same brands were tested using NMR, which was conducted by a specialised laboratory in Germany, most brands failed. Of the 13 tested, only three brands passed the NMR test.