4 ms·

Honey, olive oil, and maple syrup are probably the most counterfeited food products

fransje26 3y ago
As I was mentioning in an other reply, it's funny when you know that China exports a lot more honey (1.5x if I remember correctly) than what they produce. In a documentary they were interviewing a honey fraud specialist from the French authorities, and he was basically explaining that the laboratories they were using in China to counterfeit their honeys were more advanced than the labs they had at their disposal, which themselves were not far from state-of-the art. Initially they started looking at water content. Then, once the Chinese had adapted, they looked at water and sugar content. When that was not enough, they had to start analyzing the sugar compositions. The next step was to add pollen by weight, then by type. And now they had to analyze the honeys with mass spectrometers which was extremely costly.
- saint_fiasco 3y ago
  At a certain point we should just admit that Chinese bootleggers make better honey than the bees. After all, it has the correct amount of water and sugar, the correct sugar composition, the correct pollen, and it all has to be cheaper than real bees otherwise they wouldn't bother.
  - throwawaymobule 3y ago
    As long as it's called something else, that's fine. This is France we're talking about here though, so food progeny is a thing they take quite seriously.
    - aziaziazi 3y ago
      I second this. There’s also the nutritional side. Food makes you happy but it also keeps you healthy and honey is a nutriments bomb. Not sure about the industrial ersatz.
      - saint_fiasco 3y ago
        They should definitely test the honey to see if it has the correct micronutrients. That way, the Chinese will have to fortify their fake honey the same way people in other countries fortify staples like milk or flour.
        getwiththeprog 3y ago
        There is no 'lab-made' fake honey. The problem with commercial honey is that the farmers take all the honey from the bees, and replace it with sugar.

As I was mentioning in an other reply, it's funny when you know that China exports a lot more honey (1.5x if I remember correctly) than what they produce. In a documentary they were interviewing a honey fraud specialist from the French authorities, and he was basically explaining that the laboratories they were using in China to counterfeit their honeys were more advanced than the labs they had at their disposal, which themselves were not far from state-of-the art. Initially they started looking at water content. Then, once the Chinese had adapted, they looked at water and sugar content. When that was not enough, they had to start analyzing the sugar compositions. The next step was to add pollen by weight, then by type. And now they had to analyze the honeys with mass spectrometers which was extremely costly.

saint_fiasco 3y ago
At a certain point we should just admit that Chinese bootleggers make better honey than the bees. After all, it has the correct amount of water and sugar, the correct sugar composition, the correct pollen, and it all has to be cheaper than real bees otherwise they wouldn't bother.
- throwawaymobule 3y ago
  As long as it's called something else, that's fine. This is France we're talking about here though, so food progeny is a thing they take quite seriously.
  - aziaziazi 3y ago
    I second this. There’s also the nutritional side. Food makes you happy but it also keeps you healthy and honey is a nutriments bomb. Not sure about the industrial ersatz.
    - saint_fiasco 3y ago
      They should definitely test the honey to see if it has the correct micronutrients. That way, the Chinese will have to fortify their fake honey the same way people in other countries fortify staples like milk or flour.
      - getwiththeprog 3y ago
        There is no 'lab-made' fake honey. The problem with commercial honey is that the farmers take all the honey from the bees, and replace it with sugar.