Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve testing methods, (b) strengthen labelling regulations and (c) help tackle honey adulteration in other ways.

Defra carries out scientific research in partnership with the Food Standards Agency to help improve testing methods help address honey adulteration.

The Honey (England) Regulations 2015 lay down detailed specifications which honey must comply with regarding its composition and quality criteria. They mandate that honey cannot be sold in England unless the country of origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label. However, for reasons of practicality special provisions apply to ‘blended’ honeys, where honey producers can opt for alternative wording indicating that the honey is a blend from more than one country.

Defra works closely with enforcement authorities, responsible for enforcing our honey laws on investigating any potential fraud issues raised, to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.