Under the EU Honey Directive, honey is a natural sweet substance that bees make from nectar or from the sugary secretions of plants or insects, then transform, dehydrate, store and leave to mature in the comb. Nothing may be added to it. Pollen is a natural constituent – and often reveals where the honey came from.

How honey is adulterated

The simplest fraud is to bulk honey out with cheap sugar syrup. Recent EU checks have mainly found syrups made from rice, wheat and sugar beet. Other fraud concerns origin: honey is sold as a variety it is not, or the country it comes from is disguised. The EU anti-fraud office, OLAF, has also found added colourings and other additives. The checks did not identify a health risk; the problem is deceiving consumers and undercutting honest beekeepers.

The 'From the hives' report

In March 2023 the European Commission published the results of an exercise called 'From the hives'. Between November 2021 and February 2022, sixteen member states together with Norway and Switzerland took 320 samples of imported honey at the border. The Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) found that 147 of them – 46% – were suspected of breaching EU rules, most often because of added syrup. An earlier control plan in 2015–17 had found 14%, but this time the laboratory used more sensitive methods, so the figures are not directly comparable. China accounted for the largest number of suspicious consignments; Turkey had the highest proportion (93%). Of 123 exporters checked, 70 were flagged. OLAF went on to investigate 44 European companies, seven of which were sanctioned. The Commission stressed that these were suspicions rather than proven fraud, and that the samples do not describe the whole EU market.

Isotopes: the fingerprint of maize and cane

Plants fix carbon in two main ways. Most nectar plants are so-called C3 plants, whereas maize and sugar cane are C4 plants, which contain slightly more of the heavy carbon isotope 13C. The standard method, AOAC 998.12, compares the isotope ratio of the sugars in a honey with that of the protein from the same honey; a difference reveals added maize or cane syrup from about 7%. Fraudsters therefore switched to syrups from C3 plants – rice, wheat or beet – which this method cannot see. More precise is liquid chromatography coupled with isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS), which measures the isotopes of each sugar separately.

Markers, NMR and pollen

Syrups also leave chemical traces. A compound known as AFGP occurs in rice syrups but has not so far been found in honey. Another clue is longer sugar chains (oligosaccharides), formed when syrup is made from starch. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) captures a 'fingerprint' of the whole sample and compares it with a database of authentic honeys. Pollen analysis under the microscope shows which plants and which region a honey comes from – although pollen can be filtered out, or added. A UK methodological review in 2025 urged caution with some markers, as they also occur at lower levels in genuine honey. Only a combination of methods gives a reliable answer.

What is changing

Since 14 June 2026, new EU labelling rules have applied: for honey blends, every country of origin must be shown on the front of the pack, in descending order of weight and with its percentage. The old catch-all wording 'blend of EU and non-EU honeys' is no longer enough. The Commission is also due to set common methods of analysis and a traceability system by 2029. Home 'tests' of purity, such as crystallisation or burning, are not reliable.

Sources

  1. European Commission: EU coordinated action 'From the hives' (2023)
  2. JRC technical report: EU coordinated action to deter certain fraudulent practices in the honey sector
  3. OLAF Report 2023: No money for fake honey
  4. UK Government: Review of methods applied in the 'From the hives' survey (2025)
  5. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1438 (Breakfast Directives, honey origin labelling)
  6. FSAI: Honey – legislation and labelling