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Fake honey — often diluted with various syrups (e.g. beet, corn and rice) for economic gain — looks just like the real deal. Unfortunately for consumers, if you can’t see the fraud, the more likely a particular food is to be tampered with. Thus, honey is especially attractive to scammers.

The sticky stuff was recently the subject of a Canadian investigation, and in line with its dubious “third most faked food” title, the findings are significant. Over a 14-week period last summer (June-September 2018), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) conducted targeted surveillance on honey across the country. It found that 21.7 per cent of the samples it tested were tainted with added sugars, all of which were imported.

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“Honey that has been deliberately adulterated is considered food fraud, which deceives consumers about what they are buying and creates an unfair market for those selling authentic honey,” the CFIA says in its report, adding that it prevented roughly 12,800 kg of impure imported honey, valued at nearly $77,000, from coming into the country.