WHY THE FIGHT FOR AUTHENTICITY CONTINUES
"Nine in ten honey samples from UK retailers fail authenticity test"
Reported The Guardian this week.
The honey industry faces new demands to overhaul its supply chain after more than 90% of sampled products bought from large British retailers failed pioneering authenticity tests.This included major honey brands and supermarkets.
The tests found that 24 out of the 25 jars of honey from retailers were considered suspicious. All five samples from UK beekeepers were considered to be genuine.
TRANSPARENCY & AUTHENTICITY
View the full article here.
We have been champions of pure and natural British Honey for 25 years now. It’s in our DNA.
The London Honey Company was born through Steve Benbow’s desire to bring a small green slice of the countryside into the capital, resulting in him installing honeybees on the rooftop of his council flat near Tower Bridge.
A dedication and pursuit to produce an extraordinary British Honey collection, but to also champion and support British Beekeeping as an industry.
Yet 25 years later, the fight for an authentic British Honey to be championed by the majority of UK retailers continues.
There have been repeated calls to have government and food industry support to regulate the honey category in the UK, to provide full authenticity and transparency. Yet we’ve seen little progress, and this weeks report from The Guardian proved that many of the major ‘honey’ brands as well as many supermarkets, continue to use fake adulterated sugar syrups in their products.
TRANSPARENCY & AUTHENTICITY
The British beekeeping industry have been calling for many years for a requirement to clearly LABEL cheap ‘honey' imports (from China and many other nations) with the COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, as the global supply of honey is bulked out with sugar syrup on a vast scale.
There is currently no requirement to identify the countries of origin of honey blended from more than one country. The European Union is now considering new rules to improve consumer information for honey and ensure the country of origin is clearly identified on the jar.
Meanwhile, you can check the side label of every honey being sold. If it reads:
"Blend of EU and Non EU honeys. Blend of honeys from more than one country."
THIS IS NOT HONEY.
Please spread the word and continue your support of pure British Honey.