THE FAKE HONEY SCAM, DON’T GET STUNG ON YOUR NEXT PURCHASE

TAMPA, FLORIDA / AGILITYPR.NEWS / January 17, 2020 / If you’re like me, you really enjoy a splash of honey on a warm biscuit with real butter or as a natural sweetener for your coffee. I know I’m not alone in enjoying these delicacies. In fact, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, consumption of pure honey in the United States amounts to about 1.5 pounds of honey per capita each year.

Honey is also an important agricultural product in the U.S. The United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) reports that in 2017, American states housed nearly 2.7 million honey-producing bee colonies that collectively generated close to 1.5 million pounds of raw honey. States with the highest rate of production include the Dakotas, California, and Montana. In 2018, the value of all this honey topped $333 million.

Despite the significance of this natural resource, the honey industry is rife with problems. While the declining bee population has been documented many times, fewer people are talking about the other major concerns within the honey market -- counterfeiting and deceptive labeling.

The Alarming trend of counterfeit honey

Sadly, as news reports of bee deaths proliferate and natural honey products become more difficult to come by, counterfeiters have seen an opportunity to cash in. They’ve created methods for producing fake honey products that they pass off to consumers as the real thing. Indeed, the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) published a 2011 study showing that 76% of honey they tested had the natural pollens removed. When it came to honey purchased from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and CVS, they found that 100% of the honey products located on store shelves contained no pollen at all.

The absence of pollen within these products is not insignificant. According to the consumer watchdog publication Food Safety News, “without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.” This is particularly troublesome given that according to USDA Rules and Regulations, “…honey does not require official inspection in order to carry official USDA grade marks…[Furthermore], there are no existing programs that require the official inspection and certification of honey.…” In other words, when it comes to honey, we have a regulatory environment where the foxes have complete control over the hen house.

Methods of honey manipulation

Honey is the world’s third most adulterated food. Phony producers add cane sugar, corn, rice, or beet syrup to products labeled as “honey.” Other fraudulent practices include the mislabeling of geographic origin and inclusion of false taglines like “All Natural.” Without a doubt, profit is the driving force behind these manipulations.

If you don’t believe me, just go to the world’s largest eCommerce site, Alibaba. There, you can purchase rice syrup (i.e., counterfeit honey) for $550 per ton. Meanwhile, a ton of pure honey purchased in the United States will cost you at least $3,800. Consequently, several honey brands are “watering down” pure honey with rice syrup. Others are selling honey products that are completely devoid of actual honey. In addition to the fraud perpetrated on consumers, these practices have the ancillary effect of pricing producers of real honey completely out of the market.

If you’re still not convinced this is a real problem, consider this: Manuka honey, which is produced in New Zealand, is the most valuable honey in the world. This is due, in large part, to its purported health benefits. Annual production of legitimate Manuka honey is estimated to yield just 1,700 tons. Nonetheless, it is also estimated that over 10,000 tons of this product are being sold each year. It’s not difficult to deduce, therefore, that each year, consumers purchase 8,300 tons of fake Manuka honey.

These statistics are startling, to be sure. So, what can be done about this problem?

Detecting fake honey through technology

Much of the pushback against counterfeit honey products is coming from the high-tech world. For example, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (“NMR”) testing is now being deployed to detect things like validity, botanical variety, and geographical origin.

One of the leading scientists in this field is Dr. Peter Awram. As he watched adulterations to the honey market expand, he became concerned that the entire pure honey industry could be decimated. Dr. Awram believes that this could happen in just one to two decades solely from the devaluation that results when fake honey products are poured into the marketplace. Consequently, he is a big proponent of NMR testing to help detect cheap ingredients like rice syrup. In his view, routine NMR testing would make it much more difficult for counterfeiters to thrive in the marketplace.

The impact of ineffective regulation

Of course, the problem is compounded by the issue alluded to earlier -- the complete lack of inspection or enforcement standards for honey within US governmental agencies. Surprisingly, a honey product can carry the USDA seal despite the absence of government certification programs, standards for authenticity, or consequences for producers who peddle products containing false claims.

At present, one state -- Florida -- has regulatory honey identification and purity standards. Notably, however, Florida is only the fifth largest producer of honey in the US. This is the perfect storm for counterfeiters. They flourish in the absence of regulation and oversight. As a consequence, consumers and legitimate industry participants suffer.

What consumers can do to protect themselves

To add insult to injury, many modern honey consumers purchase products in online marketplaces like Amazon. That can be a huge mistake as Amazon has proven to be a haven for phony products. This is because Amazon and similar marketplaces allow third party retailers (“TPRs”) to sell products to the public without any oversight whatsoever from the venue itself when it comes to product legitimacy. Thus, bogus producers can turn consistent profits there, knowing that neither the government or the marketplace will try to stop them.

So, what can consumers do to keep themselves safe from fake honey products? The Daily Health Post published a list of tips that consumers can use at home (without high-tech solutions like NMR) to determine if the honey they’ve purchased is legitimate:

1.     Place a drop of your honey in your hand. Pure honey will stay in one place while fake honey will spread out relatively quickly.

2.     Prepare a mixture of water and honey, then add a few drops of vinegar. If nothing happens, you likely have real honey. If, on the other hand, the mixture foams up, the product may contain plaster.

3.     Add a few drops of iodine to a glass of water, then add honey to the glass. If the mixture turns blue, the product contains corn starch and cannot be considered real honey.

4.     Pure honey can be ignited. Add a little honey to the end of a matchstick and see if you can get it to light. If not, the product is not real.

5.     Try dissolving a teaspoon of the product in a glass of cool water. If it dissolves quickly, it’s not honey.

Of course, consumers should never have to go to such lengths to protect themselves from products sold in seemingly valid marketplaces. Unfortunately, the current trifecta of dangers -- bee scarcity, the ease of producing fake honey, and the popularity of online shopping -- have made these precautions a near necessity.

Freelance Writer : Bruce Anderson is the co-founder of the global brand protection firm, eEnforce. As a freelance journalist, he covers the rapid explosion of harmful activities in eCommerce that adversely impacts brands, organizations and consumers. Bruce reguarly reports on little known issues impacting Marketplaces, Counterfeiting Trends and Consumer Protection issues. Bruce is currently a member of the FBI Infraguard, and the Secret Service Financial Crimes Task Force, is former police detective and is registered as a Private Investigator.