Turkish honey exports to EU tainted

Almost half of European Union's honey imports are not pure but products that have been watered down and contain ingredients like sugar syrups, Deutsche Welle Turkish said citing a recent EU report.

According to the report, 46% of the 320 inspected samples turned out to be fake honey, and this marked more than a three fold increase compared to the results of previous inspections between 2015-17, which had showed that 14% of the samples were not pure.

Turkey, China and England topped the list of tainted honey exporters. 14 out of 15 samples from Turkey (93%), and 74 out of 89 samples from China (83%) were not pure.

While all 10 samples from England failed the inspections, this may be due to the use of "honey mixtures" imported from Mexico, Brazil and Ukraine, DW said.

Only four of the 21 samples imported by France, and half of the 52 samples imported by Germany were pure.

Turkey exported honey worth nearly $46 million to 59 countries in 2022, with most of its exports to the United States, Spain and Germany.

The EU follows the US in global honey imports, with 175,000 tonnes of honey or 40% of the total consumption imported from various countries.