“Global honey crisis”: Testing technology and local sourcing soars amid fraud and tampering concerns

The World Beekeeping Awards will not grant a prize for honey next year due to the “inability” to thoroughly test honey for adulteration. The announcement comes amid the rise of honey fraud in the EU, where a 2023 investigation found that 46% of 147 honey samples tested were likely contaminated with low-cost plant syrups. 

Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, organizes the event at its Congress, whose 49th edition will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in September 2025. The conference brings together beekeepers, scientists and other stakeholders.

“We will celebrate honey in many ways at the Congress, but honey will no longer be a category, and thus, there will be no honey judging in the World Beekeeping Awards. The lessons learned from Canada 2019 and Chile 2023 were that adequate testing was impossible if we are to award winning honey at the Congress,” reads a statement from the organizers.

Importation integrity concerns

This will be the first time no awards will be presented for honey at the event.

Bernhard Heuvel, president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association, tells Food Ingredients First that the decision reflects concerns about the integrity of imported honey in the EU market.

“It also reflects the knowledge that there is something substantially going wrong in the international honey market. There is so much fraudulent honey on the market that tests in different countries range from 60-100% adulterated honey in supermarkets, usually blends and imported honey, which can be from EU and outside,” says Heuvel.

The global honey supply chain is vulnerable to fraudulent activities, including adding or removing elements like sugar or smuggling. According to the Fairtrade Risk Map, the value distribution within the supply chains is also “inequitable,” with beekeepers lacking negotiation power.

This will be the first time no awards will be presented for honey at the event.“The supply chain for honey from beehive to jar is lengthy and complex. There are opportunities for some fraud at almost every step, ranging from feeding the bees sugar syrup to increase the crop, adding syrups to honey to bulk it out, mislabelling or document fraud,” Lynne Ingram, chair of the Honey Authenticity Network UK, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Add to that the lack of appropriate authenticity testing and enforcement, and we have a global honey crisis,” she says.

However, Heuvel stresses that gaps in the global supply chain do not facilitate the entry of adulterated honey into the EU market.

“The US closed their borders for cheap honey in 2021 and rejected 50,000 tons of honey. That didn’t go back to the exporting countries but ended up in Europe. So, we got about 50,000 tons of fraudulent honey/fake honey on the market. It flooded the European market, financially ruining the producers of real honey, their families and honeybees.”

Advancements in honey testing

While honey authentication methods can be costly and time-intensive, demands for reliable testing remain strong and urgent.

“Tests are always being updated and refined, and new ones are being developed, but honey is a complex product to authenticate. There is no one test alone that can say that honey is or is not authentic. A suite of tests is needed. Since the new EU Honey Directive (2024), a Honey Platform has been set up to decide on a globally agreed suite of tests,” explains Ingram.

Recent advancements such as DNA barcoding and machine learning have enabled fast and accurate detection of fake products in the UK.

“We developed a DNA bulk sequencing analysis to show the adulteration. And we are not speaking of adulteration like 1-3% of the product. We are speaking about 60-90% of the product labeled as ‘honey’ being syrup,” says Heuvel.

“All the authorities and departments at the national and EU levels are picking up the new method and looking into the matter.”While honey authentication methods can be costly and time-intensive, demands for reliable testing remain strong.

Local honey soars

Heuvel tells us that European retailers are responding to honey fraud differently, which ranges “from denial to actively looking into the matter.”

“There is a 20% increase in demand for locally sourced honey now,” he notes.

The Honey Authenticity Network UK sent 30 samples purchased from British retailers for a metagenomic DNA analysis last month. More than 90% of the products failed the authenticity test.

“UK retailers continue to sell vast quantities of cheap imported, blended honey. A select few supermarkets stock British honey from named beekeepers. There is a growing understanding by the consumer that to get authentic honey, it is best to buy local honey. Demand for honey at farmers’ markets continues to increase,” Ingram concludes.