The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a survey of imported honey for exogenous sugars in 2021 and 2022. More than 70% of the honey consumed in the U.S. is imported. From January 2021 to March 2022, the FDA collected and tested 144 samples from either bulk or retail packaged shipments labelled as “honey”, to determine whether they contained undeclared added sugars. About 40% of the samples originated in India and Vietnam, the top two sources of honey imported by the U.S. The analysis used was the AOAC method for C4 sugars (cane sugar and corn syrups). Of the 144 imported samples collected and tested, the FDA found 14 (10%) to have carbon isotope values atypical of authentic honey, and were considered non-compliant. When the FDA found a sample to be non-compliant, it refused entry of the shipment into the U.S. and placed the associated company and product on Import Alert, which means that for those products to be admitted into the U.S., the company is required to provide evidence to the FDA to overcome the non-compliance, such as the test results of a third-party laboratory, verifying that the product does not contain added sugars.
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