Honey From Leading Brands Adulterated With Chinese Sugar Syrup: CSE

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released its findings on the nefarious business of adulteration in honey. CSE has revealed the presence of sugar syrup in the branded honey available in the market. The experts said that consuming sugary syrup in the guise of honey could cause serious health implications ranging from obesity, diabetes, heart diseases among others.

The CSE probe further claimed that the sugar syrup was manufactured by a Chinese company in India and was designed in a way that could avoid detection.

The adulteration could have been detected only when tested using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

"Our findings have revealed that 10 out of 13 brands have failed all tests of purity. Most of these are big brands, including Dabur. This is not only about Dabur. In fact, we have talked about how smaller brands are also adulterated. This is about the consumer’s health. We have shared detailed laboratory results of all samples on our website," said an official of CSE.

Of the 22 samples, the CSE study said that only 5 passed all the tests. It said the leading brands failed the NMR test.

Later, two of India’s big names in the business – Dabur and Patanjali – issued statements to the media on CSE’s findings.

The NMR test report available on Dabur’s website and shared with media in support of the company’s statement is a report of the Bruker equipment/machine for NMR profiling. Bruker is a company which developed NMR and promotes it.

"We would like to make the consumer aware that this is not a laboratory report, which involves expert interpretation of the information by the equipment. In the case of NMR, it is critical that final conclusion on a sample’s adulteration is based on interpretation and confirmation by a laboratory expert on NMR. Even the report shared by Dabur mentions that expert interpretation is necessary before deducing any conclusion, informed the CSE official.

On the other hand, CSE has shared the findings based on laboratory reports from Germany, which involves expert interpretation and confirmation of the data obtained by the machine/equipment. This is a universally accepted practice.

Furthermore, Dabur has shared the report of only one sample. Also, there is no mention of the batch number of the sample tested. So, it remains unclear which batch is being talked about. On the other hand, we have provided three batch numbers of three samples tested of Dabur; that is BM3463, with the date of manufacture of May 25, 2020; BM3589, manufactured on July 10, 2020; and BM3636, manufactured on August 5, 2020. All three batches were found to be adulterated. In the absence of this information on laboratory test by the batch number, Dabur’s claim of purity is not tenable.

"We have also noted that Dabur is constantly changing the language on its claims regarding NMR tests. In earlier advertisements, it has said “NMR tested, pure honey”; as of today -- after the release of the CSE investigation -- Dabur is claiming “source NMR tested”. “Is this jugglery another attempt to confuse the consumer?” asks CSE director general Sunita Narain.

Dabur’s claim about compliance with Indian laws is no surprise. That is what we have been saying -- that the business of adulteration is sophisticated. The Indian labs testing for parameters set by the FSSAI could not detect this evolved adulteration. The fact that samples deliberately adulterated by us by up to 50 per cent of syrups passed all Indian tests is a robust proof of this. So, any claim of meeting all Indian standards actually holds limited value.

Further, the official stated, "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is an advanced test which can detect adulteration with modified sugar syrups, which may otherwise go undetected. The advanced testing method is being used in different parts of the world for detecting adulteration and even the Indian government has mandated it since August 2020 for honey meant to be exported.

"It could be important to include such advanced testing in government testing system that can help the enforcement agencies to know if the honey sold to consumers is adulterated or not. It can also help the agencies know which companies are selling adulterated honey, which is a crime, and take required punitive action against the defaulters," he added.

"We have emphasised that NMR should not be made mandatory because it will likely help for a limited time. The business of adulteration is so sophisticated that very soon there would be syrups which can bypass the NMR test as well," the official stated.

"Sugar actually harbours infection. This is why we advised against sugar consumption if any infection is detected. This is a criminal breach of trust of consumers who consume honey thinking it has immunity-boosting properties," a report in Times of India quoted Swati Samadder, a dietician.

(With Agency Inputs)