- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will release data from a 2021 and 2022 sampling assignment to test imported honey for economically motivated adulteration (EMA).
- EMA occurs when someone intentionally leaves out, removes, or substitutes a valuable ingredient in a food or when a substance is added to a food to make it appear better or of greater value.
- The sampling was designed to identify products that contained less expensive undeclared added sweeteners, such as corn and cane syrups.
- FDA collected and tested 144 samples of imported honey from bulk and retail shipments from 32 countries. FDA found 10% of samples to be violative and refused entry of these violative shipments into the U.S. The associated companies and products have been placed on an import alert.
- Violative samples are subject to agency action, such as recall and import refusal and, where appropriate, FDA may consider pursuing criminal investigations.
- You can refer to this FDA Guidance for more information on proper labeling of honey and honey products.
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