EU agrees on labeling requirements for honey

Highlights: EU agrees on labeling requirements for honey. In future, the country of origin must be clearly stated on honey packaging. The aim is to improve consumer protection, the two institutions said. But consumer advocates are calling for further steps, for example against adulterating honey with sugar syrup, they say. The rules are not enough to combat “honey cheating” and more controls are needed, says Foodwatch managing director Chris Methmann, who says most adulterated honey ends up in processed products.

Until now, manufacturers have been able to hide the true origin of honey behind meaningless information. This should be over now. But consumer advocates are calling for further steps, for example against adulterating honey with sugar syrup.

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Origin unknown? A glass of honey

Photo: David-Wolfgang Ebener/dpa

In future, the country of origin must be clearly stated on honey packaging. Negotiators from the EU states and the European Parliament agreed on this on Wednesday night in Brussels. The aim is to improve consumer protection, the two institutions said. So far, honey mixtures only have to state whether it comes from the EU or not. In addition, in the future it will have to be stated how large the proportion of honey from the respective countries is.

Before the rules can come into force, Parliament and EU states must approve them. This is considered a formality. Once the legal text has been published in the EU Official Journal, a transition period of around two years applies until the requirements are applied.

»Origin: Planet Earth«

According to the EU states, individual countries can decide that only the four largest countries of origin need to be specified. There is also an exception for packaging weighing less than 30 grams. Here, the names of the countries of origin could also be abbreviated using a code.

The consumer protection organization Foodwatch described the better regulation of origin as overdue. "The previously permitted indication of origin on honey such as 'mixture of EU and non-EU countries' is just as meaningless as the indication 'Origin: Planet Earth,'" said Foodwatch managing director Chris Methmann. However, the rules are not enough to combat “honey cheating” and more controls are needed.

Tests have shown that a lot of imported honey is probably fake and diluted with sugar syrup. “Most adulterated honey ends up in processed products,” says Methmann. According to the chairman of the Environment Committee in the EU Parliament, there should also be more border controls to combat counterfeit honey, which is actually just sugar mixed with water. The Frenchman Pascal Canfin also emphasized that in future the origin must be stated on the front and back of the label.

The EU Commission announced that it wanted to introduce harmonized analytical methods to detect sugar-added honey. A uniform methodology should also be introduced to identify the origin of honey. In principle, this is possible through a pollen analysis.

There will also be new rules for juices and jams in the future. According to the information, juices may in future be labeled as “reduced sugar” if at least 30 percent of the naturally occurring sugar has been removed. However, no sweeteners may be used. In the future, at least 450 grams of fruit must be used for one kilogram of jam.

There is support for the new rules from politicians. “The current set of rules for labeling of origin serves more to conceal things,” criticizes CSU MEP Markus Ferber. The Green Party member of the Bundestag Renate Künast said that it is the right of customers to know where a product comes from. »More and more people are paying attention to regional products when shopping.«

beb/dpa

EU agrees on labeling requirements for honey

»Origin: Planet Earth«

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