Adulteration Of Honey With Sugar Syrup: A Serious Threat For The Beekeepers

Honey is characterized as a natural and raw food product used not only as a sweetener but also as a valuable medicine due to its therapeutic impacts on human health. Although honey consumption has increased remarkably in the last few years, so is its adulteration with sugar syrups. Honey adulteration has been a significant cause of diabetes, obesity, abdominal weight gain, high blood pressure, and many more such health problems. However, this is not only a threat for honey consumers; even beekeepers worldwide are losing their jobs.

Beekeepers worldwide are working hard to set up beehives, bee colonies to help us get the natural honey loaded with numerous benefits. But the beekeeping industry is in serious jeopardy today, and it is essential to bring this issue to the attention of everyone. To understand things in detail, much research has been done. Samples of several honey brands were taken for the study. As a result, it was found that a considerable quantity of modified sugar syrups is being imported from China and that adulteration with such syrups remains undetected.

Why Adulteration of Honey is a Threat to Beekeepers?

Adulteration of honey is the most severe threat beekeepers face in recent times. Apart from this, the falling prices of honey products, rising production costs, and reduced production are other significant factors that have stressed the beekeepers.

The imperiled eventual fate of the persevering beekeepers doesn't look good for the environment and the capacity to develop food. Since honey bees are significant pollinators, the jobs of beekeepers must be supported to keep the food systems intact.

Why are the livelihoods threatened, and why don't beekeepers get due costs for their honey produce?

"Efficiency is hard-hit because of a few factors like the utilization of pesticides. In addition, the expanded use of hybrid seeds has reduced the blooming time. Consequently, there has been a fall in nectar. Be that as it may, adulteration of honey with sugar syrup is the most pressing threat. What harms beekeepers the most is that their production of nature's goodness as honey needs to contend with cheap, sugar-laden syrups, bereft deprived of the therapeutic properties that honey has.

Ironically, honey producers face a crisis when honey's ubiquity and retail costs take off. As a result, multiple times of what is created by us is accessible on the shelves.

Also, myths are created among purchasers about the purity of honey to top everything. For example, the big brands have publicized that impure honey crystallizes, but unadulterated honey crystallizes.

Customers have put immense trust in these brands. But, unfortunately, to such an extent that they devour their honey as a well-being food, and the public authority bodies and controllers are acting unmindful of the matter of adulteration.

According to Mr. Basem Barry, founder & CEO of Geohoney, the scale and nature of this impurity are affecting us at various levels. It influences our well-being and makes us more vulnerable to Covid-19 and different ailments. It is also the reason why honey beekeepers' occupations are getting hit. Assuming that we have no honey beekeepers, there will be no honey bees and no honey. All the more significantly, honey bees assist us with developing food through pollination. Without them, there will be no food and no life.