.China: Artificial Honey Confiscated

China: Artificial Honey Confiscated

China's National Television has brought another case of "food forgery" to the spotlight in a country where fake eggs, beef and tofu have become staple items in national news coverage.  Chongqing's Hechuan district Police have discovered a production site for fake honey and confiscated about 500 kilograms.

The Fake honey is made of water, sugar, alum powder and colouring.The fake honey contained no honey but did contained 187 milligrams of aluminium residue to every kilogram of  fake honey. "Artificial honey has a chemical odour, it either has a pungent or a fruity smell, whereas real, pure honey has a subtle scent of flowers," one report reads.

China is the world's largest producer of honey and exports large amounts to the rest of the world. Last month, a study shook France. It stated that 10% of the honey consumed in the country is "fraudulent". The samples had been labelled as French, but originated either in China or Eastern Europe.

Two months earlier, after a years-long probe named Project Honeygate, US customs busted a honey smuggling ring, in which leading American honey producers smuggled inferior honey from China via Australia to the US.

source South China Evening Post