A research team at Cranfield University has developed two fast and accurate methods to detect sugar syrup adulteration in jars of honey.

Honey is a natural substance produced by honey bees. However, in recent years it has become less and less ‘natural’, with cases of sugar syrup adulteration increasing.

What this means is that vegetable-based syrups from maize, corn, rice, sugar beet, wheat, cassava and even potatoes are used to dilute real honey. The resulting concoction can comprise as little as 15% honey.

This ‘fake’ honey, which is sold for as little as 69p a jar, is flooding our supermarket shelves. Trading data from the UK government found that in 2023 £89.8m worth of honey was imported into the UK.

According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), this equates to 51,400 tonnes of honey being imported into the UK, 68% of which comes from China.

Last year a European Commission investigation found that 46% of 147 honey samples tested were likely to have been adulterated with cheap plant...