Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001969/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Pascal Arimont (PPE)
According to the German Professional Beekeepers Association (Deutscher Berufs- und Erwerbsimkerbunds e. V.), adulterated honey in supermarkets remains a major problem. The association had samples of honey from German supermarkets tested in a laboratory, which showed that 25 out of 30 samples had been diluted with cheap sugar syrup. The association noted that the typical sugar profiling methods – NMR, IRMS and LC/MS testing – did not reveal any anomalies in the 30 samples. Only DNA sequencing was able to prove that 80 % of the samples were inauthentic[1]. Beekeepers suspect that fructose syrup produced by genetically modified bacteria was added to the honeys.
The European Parliament and the Council have adopted a reform of the EU Honey Directive, whereby the countries of origin will have to appear on the label of honey blends in descending order by weight with the percentage share of each origin. Nonetheless, the Member States can decide that, for honey placed on the market in their territory, only the percentages of the four largest shares need to be indicated, provided that these countries represent more than 50 % of the blend. What is more, the detection of this fraud highlights the need for comprehensive and better analyses to combat the import of cheap, counterfeit products.
What is the Commission’s response to the findings of the above-mentioned investigation and what measures is it proposing to better and more efficiently detect such fraud in the future?
Submitted: 7.10.2024
- [1] https://berufsimker.de/schock-nach-dna-test-80-prozent-beprobter-honige-gefaelscht/