The Honey sold by several major brands in India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup, the environment watchdog CSE claimed on Wednesday. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) food researchers shortlisted 13 top as well as smaller brands of processed and raw honey available in Indian market to check their purity.
To everyone's shock CSE found that 77 per cent of the samples were adulterated with the addition of sugar syrup. Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests. “Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test,” the study said. The samples of the shortlisted brands were first tested at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. The CSE reported almost all the top brands passed the tests of purity while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar or basic adulteration using cane sugar.
But when the same brands were tested using NMR laboratory tests, currently being used globally to check for the modified sugar syrups, almost all the big and small brands failed. Out of the 13 brands, only three passed the NMR test conducted by a specialised laboratory in Germany.Responding to the claim, Emami (Zandu) spokesperson said, “Emami as a responsible organisation ensures that its Zandu pure honey conforms and adheres to all the protocols and quality norms/standards laid down by the Government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI.” One more renowned brand Dabur too refuted the claim.
Owner of milk product factory arrested under NSA
