Cape Town – The Western Cape Bee Industry Association (WCBA) and agricultural advisory and food safety inspection services company, Impumelelo Agribusiness Solutions, are cracking down on honey fraud.
In a statement, the WCBA and the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development said honey testing and labelling assignee Impumelelo noticed complaints by the public over “fake honey”.
These various honey products are mostly low priced, being labelled and sold illegally as honey.
To date, 14 leads from WCBA members have resulted in several successful raids and the confiscation of
large amounts of suspicious honey products.
Subsequent laboratory tests have proven that the confiscated goods were indeed “fake honey”.
“There have been successful raids on supermarkets, butcheries, grocery stores and individuals who are
acting as agents and selling these products.
“When a product, eg 500g ‘honey’ is sold retail for R35 and masquerades as choice grade vs SA choice grade honey that retails for R90 to R125 per 500g, one can see that there is a massive misrepresentation and food fraud happening.
"One product has a label ‘Manuka raw honey’, a trademark of New Zealand ‘black seeded’, a famous health food, for R45.
“Real Manuka honey retails for R800 to R1 000 per 500g in South Africa, never mind the trademark infringements,” the WCBA said.
Other labels merely stated “Pure Farm Honey” with a barcode, with no information about its country of origin, grade, type, weight and contact information.
While it was difficult to estimate the prevalence of fake honey in the South African market, the WCBA said there was country-wide prevalence of products that incorrectly state or infer that a substance is honey.
“Misleading terms like ‘honey syrup’ and incorrect claims as to the quality of a product are problematic. It comes down to labelling regulations that are not stringent enough and that are also not policed properly, which allows unscrupulous operators to flourish.
“Highly processed imported honey that has to be irradiated by law is passed off as choice grade honey when it is no more than industrial grade, devoid of aromas, flavours and
nutrients.
"Products that have failed lab testing are confiscated. It also
happens that labels are simply changed when operators are found out, and
the scourge continues,” the WCBA said.
The association called on for members to report any suspicious honey products.
All relevant information is collated and submitted to Impumelelo for further investigation.
Report suspected fake honey to [email protected], or Malose Fache via [email protected]