There’s a great honey scam taking place in South Africa, whereby unethical manufacturers are faking nature’s sweet golden produce to maximise profits.

Unscrupulous producers are defrauding the public by manufacturing a product made of sugar water and selling it onto consumers under the misnomer of pure honey.

Fake honey damaging South Africa’s economy

According to Peels, South Africa’s oldest honey brand, this unwholesome practice not only impacts negatively on the consumer’s health but also has a devastating effect on South Africa’s agriculture and food security in general.

The company, which prides itself on the ethical and sustainable production of honey, spoke to The Citizen on the issue, saying:

“If the department does not take urgent action, the South African honey industry will not be able to survive, endangering hundreds of jobs.”

Craig Campbell, Peels managing director and beekeeper-in-charge, commented on the importance of a sustainable honey industry within the grander scheme of South Africa’s agricultural economy.

According to Campbell, the manufacturing of fake honey stands to break the beekeeping sector, which has the propensity to further impact negatively on consumers, agricultural jobs, commercial farmers, and the South African economy at large.

The cheap alternative to authenticity

As is usually the reason for fraud; it’s all related to maximising profits, regardless of the adverse effects on consumers and the sensitive economy.

Retailers are focused on obtaining wholesale products at low-costs and selling them to customers at inflated rates which result in high-margin gains.

While this is the principal of all business, buy low and sell high, it excludes ethical honey producers from the market due to the costs involved in producing pure honey.

Fake honey, fake labels

Campbell says that fake honey is finding its way onto the shelves of major retailers, even infiltrating in-house brands and private label bottles.

Another issue which has allowed the harmful honey trend to proliferate in the public market is the non-compliance relating to food labelling regulations.

According to Campbell, fake honey manufacturers are purposefully misleading the public by skirting traditional label laws. This makes it increasingly hard for the consumer to discern counterfeit produce from genuine honey.

Often times, while labels are required to list the product’s country of origin and type of honey supplied, fraudulent manufacturers will refrain from incorporating this information into the design displayed.

National Beekeeping Action Plan

Campbell has called for the creation of a National Beekeeping Action Plan, aimed at growing the local beekeeping industry into a competitive and sustainable force.

This strategy would secure thousands of jobs in South Africa’s rural sector, and will also increase the quality of locally produced honey, which can then enter the export market.

This approach would also include proactive measure levelled at monitoring and investigating fraudulent honey manufacturers intent on dumping their wares into local supermarkets.

Peels maintain that such an initiative would grow the value of the local honey market from R3.2 billion to more than R20 billion.