Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

---

Honey naturally contains sugars and, according to EU legislation, must remain pure – meaning that it cannot have ingredients added to it. Adulteration occurs when ingredients such as water or inexpensive sugar syrups are artificially added to increase the volume of honey.

The EU coordinated action ‘From the hives’ was organised by the European Commission in 2021 to assess the prevalence on the market of honey adulterated with sugars. Thanks to this action, suspicions of fraud in the honey sector have been identified.

The EU coordinated action “From the Hives” was led by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), with the national authorities of 18 countries who are part of the EU Food Fraud Network, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC).

For more information: https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/eu-agri-food-fraud-network/eu-coordinated-actions/honey-2021-2022_en

Check the news article published by the JRC: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/food-fraud-how-genuine-your-honey-2023-03-23_en
______________________________

🧪 *JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)* 🔬

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) provides independent, evidence-based knowledge & science, supporting EU policies to positively impact society.

As a department of the European Commission, we play a key role at multiple stages of the policy cycle. We work closely with other Commission departments, EU institutions and agencies, as well as with scientific partners and policy organisations in Europe and internationally. The JRC offers scientific expertise and competences from a very wide range of scientific disciplines in support of almost all EU policy areas.

🌐 JRC website: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu
✉️ JRC monthly newsletter: https://europa.eu/!JTyGpY
🔎 JRC vacancies: https://europa.eu/!HbMtKp
______________________________

📲 *FOLLOW US!* 📲

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/european-commission-joint-research-centre
Twitter (X): twitter.com/EU_ScienceHub
Instagram: instagram.com/EU_Science
Facebook: facebook.com/EUScienceHub

#JointResearchCentre #JRC #EuropeanCommission #EuropeanUnion #EU #ScienceForPolicy #Science4policy #Science #Policy #Policymaking #HoneyFraud #FoodFraud #FoodSafety