The estimated cost of global food fraud ranges from €25 to €37 billion annually. Honey, celebrated for its taste, nutritional value, and health benefits, is unfortunately one of the prime targets. Considering that in 2022, the European Union (EU) produced 236,019 tonnes of honey, alarmingly a recent EU-wide coordinated action revealed that 46% of the sampled honey was suspected of being subject to fraud. At the EU level, the EU Honey Directive (Directive (EC) 110/2001) consolidates the EU-wide definition of honey, specifying common rules on composition, and determining the main labelling information. Despite these regulations, globalisation and complex supply chains have contributed greatly to a rise in honey fraud. These trends undermine market prices and consumer trust, inflicting substantial harm on the beekeeping sector, where honey prices are crucial for economic sustainability.
Honey fraud occurs through mislabelling and adulteration. Mislabelling involves false claims about the botanical, geographical (including regional, territorial, and topographic), or entomological origin of honey. Noteworthy is that the EU Honey Directive remains vague on honey bee subspecies entomological derivation. Conversely, adulteration involves mixing honey with cheaper, low-quality honeys or adding sweeteners such as sugar syrups. These practices artificially inflate the price of low-value honey to that of a higher quality which fetches a better price on the market.
Traditionally, fraudulent honey is detected using the presence of pollens which indirectly indicates the geographical origin of the honey. Other analytical methods target physical-chemical characteristics of honey, such as sugars, proteins, amino acids, minerals, and trace elements. However, these methods lack universality and are adopted arbitrarily in different countries. An exciting and novel approach is the use of DNA markers, which has great potential for identifying both botanical and entomological origins of honey. As living things continuously shed genetic material, honey bees leave traces of both the flowers they visited and their genetic material, in the honey they produce. Scientists have developed tools to detect this genetic material and use these biomarkers to identify honey fraud. However, only if the local honey bee subspecies is reared this novel parameter can be utilised to assess entomological origin. This provides a strong incentive for beekeepers to rear their regional autochthonous bees, offering an added tool to combat honey fraud.
Malta, an EU member state in the Mediterranean, has a long tradition of beekeeping and hosts an endemic subspecies of honey bee, Apis mellifera ruttneri. As is the case with other regional subspecies of honey bees in their own native habitats, A. m. ruttneri is key for sustainable beekeeping in Malta due to its adaptations and increased production. It also offer an added opportunity in the fight against honey fraud, should environmental DNA in honey be used to determine authenticity.
In addition to testing, increasing consumer awareness is another crucial way to address honey fraud. To that end, the Foundation for the Conservation of the Maltese Honey Bee has since May 2023, advocated for the declaration of the Maltese Honey Bee as Malta’s National Insect. This initiative aims not only to safeguard local biodiversity, but also boost public interest in beekeeping and bee-derived products. This elevated status would also translate to the enhanced value and prestige of local honey. Promoting honey as a product derived from both local flora and an endemic subspecies declared as the National Insect, holds great potential for the economic sustainability of Malta’s fragile beekeeping sector.
At the European level, the principle of honey authenticity, based not only on local flora but also on endemic honey bee ecotypes, should be given serious consideration. This approach offers a dual safeguard in promoting sustainable honey production amidst globalisation, climate change, and other challenges: it ensures authenticity, quality, and increased valorisation by protecting against honey fraud; while also conserving the increasingly threatened biodiversity of honey bee ecotypes.
Written by Dylan Farrugia & Abner Joe Buttigieg, Administrators at the Foundation for the Conservation of the Maltese Honey Bee
Published in the EBA Magazine, No Bees, No Life, Issue 2, August 2024
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