Introduction
Honey fraud is prevalent across the world and has been for a long time. Since Montreal hosted Apimondia in 2019 and some honey competition entries turned out to be adulterated, a lot more attention has been given to this criminal activity. Over recent years, Lynne Ingram has devoted much of her time to raising awareness and educating beekeepers, politicians and the general public about honey fraud. She is one of founders of the Honey Authentication Network UK (HAN UK) and has featured on television programmes, newspaper articles and blogs https://beeconservation.org.uk/blogs/news/honey-fraud-battle-for-the-uk.Along with other dedicated colleagues, Lynne is impacting government policy and helping beekeepers raise the profile of local honey, https://food.blog.gov.uk/2025/02/17/exploring-new-methods-to-protect-honey-authenticity-in-the-uk/ Check out Radio 4 The Food Programme -The Honey Trap: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002qh1k
Further from home , things look just as bleak for bees, and for honest humans hoping to buy real honey. Our correspondent David Hennessy reports on honey fraud from India where he is having a wee rest before his beekeeping season starts again near Edinburgh. David has been a beekeeper for many years and is about to embark on an exciting project to improve honey bees in his local area. He may tell us about this in the future, but today he is sharing a sad and disturbing story with us.
Thank you very much, David, for taking the time out from holidaying to contribute to the Beelistener and let readers know what’s going on across the world.
India-phile
For more than twenty years I have travelled regularly to India—one could reasonably describe me as an India-phile. During that time, I have rarely seen managed honey bee colonies, despite India being frequently cited as having one of the highest numbers of hives per capita globally and producing an estimated 125,000–150,000 metric tonnes of honey annually. This statistic was even aired confidently during an EMBA (Edinburgh & Midlothian Beekeepers’ Association) Christmas quiz. But does it withstand scrutiny?
Honey destined for export from India must undergo specific analytical tests, most notably nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), C3/C4 sugar analysis (to detect cane versus nectar sugars), and trace marker for rice syrup (TMR). These tests are effective, yet their application is limited. NMR testing, widely regarded as the gold standard, is mandatory only for export honey. Even so, independent investigations have shown that approximately 77% of export samples failed purity tests due to adulteration.
Turning to the domestic market, routine testing is virtually absent. Adulteration here appears endemic. A recent encounter in a rural village illustrated this starkly. Honey harvested from Apis dorsata was being sold openly on a street corner. Large slabs of comb—containing brood, uncapped honey, and dead or dying bees—were broken into a bucket. To this, jaggery syrup (unrefined sugar) was added and mixed thoroughly. The resulting product was strained and sold to local customers as “pure honey”. Please click on the link to a short video just to give an idea. https://youtu.be/sbCrGhznIiE?feature=shared
This was not a very covert activity, but a profitable operation.
Apis dorsata is ubiquitous across India, building massive exposed combs and existing in dynamic balance with parasites such as tropilaelaps. This resilience contrasts sharply with the introduced Apis mellifera, which continues to struggle despite sustained government support. The disconnect between reported production figures and on-the-ground reality raises uncomfortable but necessary questions about what is truly being produced—and sold—as honey in India.
Footnote
Ron Phipps reports (American Bee Journal Jan 2026), “India has achieved a remarkable milestone on the global stage by becoming the second-largest honey exporter in the world, according to Indian news reports. In just four years, India jumped from 9th place to 2nd. The U.S. is the main buyer of Indian honey.” In 2024 India exported 94, 778, 500 kg honey described as ‘natural honey.’ So, it seems like there’s ‘jaggery’- pokery on a large scale going in in India.
For the curious reader who enjoys words, jiggery-pokery is thought to be derived from a 17th- century Scottish phrase ” joukery-pawkery”. The first part means to dodge or avoid and the second is a word for clever.
So interesting- thank you. Loved the word origin at the end, too.
Hello, Jane. Thank you for commenting on David’s great post. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Best wishes, Ann,
It’s people like YOU/US that are the ambassadors for pure local honey. Bringing the difference to the public if a fundamental key not just using the gauge of price as an indicator of quality. We must embrace honey fraud is endemic. We need to bring confidence to the buyer that local is local. I regularly hold tasting mornings in a nice wee shop in Dalkeith “One Dalkeith” https://www.instagram.com/onedalkeith?igsh=aXJoYjJyMHFscDd1
a perfect venue for tasting. To be fair information is getting out there about honey fraud but price is a factor to the buyer.
Very interesting read. As you say lots of jaggery pokery going on.
I’m glad you enjoyed David’s excellent post, Ray. Thank you for commenting. Best wishes, Ann.
This article is very disturbing, but valuable. I informs us of how the international honey market cannot be trusted. The take-home lesson, methinks, is this: buy only locally produced honey. Thank you.
Exactly Tom! From trusted sources. Unfortunately human nature being as it is when money is involved scruples go out the window. Fortunately this is rare in Scotland one would hope.
Excellent article – thank you. I listened to the R4 programme last week and thought that an excellent point that was made, that may make folks think twice about buying cheap, supermarket honey, is that once you undercut all your genuine beekeepers, including the commercial guys, by selling adulterated honey then their businesses are doomed to fail. And with that goes Scotland’s free pollination service, rapidly followed by the very many crops that depend or are greatly improved by pollination.
The general public are getting the message from programs like R4 and articles in magazines and newspapers. While selling my honey last month a very nice couple bought 4 jars, nice wee sale. They let me know it was only for them the children get the budget honey from German supermarkets for the cornflakes. 😫
Excellent article, that highlights the greed for money.As a new beekeeper that was unaware of the difference in taste, between real local honey ,and the bulk bought supermarket fake honey 🍯 amazed me. This brings to the fore the lack of control or intrest our food regulators have . Buy local and support you beekeeper’s.
It’s people like YOU/US that are the ambassadors for pure local honey. Bringing the difference to the public if a fundamental key not just using the gauge of price as an indicator of quality. We must embrace honey fraud is endemic. We need to bring confidence to the buyer that local is local. I regularly hold tasting mornings in a nice wee shop in Dalkeith “One Dalkeith” https://www.instagram.com/onedalkeith?igsh=aXJoYjJyMHFscDd1
a perfect venue for tasting. To be fair information is getting out there about honey fraud but price is a factor to the buyer.