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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that a high level of adulterated honey is sold in UK supermarkets; and what plans they have to strengthen product testing standards in the UK to bring them in line with those of the EU.

The National Food Crime Unit’s 2024 strategic assessment of food crime concluded it is unlikely that adulterated honey is broadly present on the UK market. All honey on sale must meet the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 which lay down detailed specifications for honey in terms of its composition and quality criteria. The Government keeps its rules under continuous review to ensure they continue to meet their objective and protect consumers.

Honey authenticity analysis is challenging due to natural variations in honey composition and harvesting practices. No single test can definitively determine a honey’s authenticity.

The Government has an active programme of research dedicated to standardising and improving honey authenticity testing, working to support monitoring and enforcement to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. This includes enabling ways to validate testing approaches to assess compliance to ensure they are fit for purpose including use of a weight of evidence approach.