The alarm launched by Italian farmers (CIA) against imports into the EU of fake honey
from China, artificially produced with sugar syrup is very recent. To create this surrogate,
bees are replaced during honey maturation and dehumidification, thus reducing production
costs and time at the expense of quality and authenticity.

A sector already in crisis in latest years (for example Italian honey decreased by 505 in 2019) –mainly
due to climate change that reduced the number of bees– must also face this new unfair
competitor which instead increases its production capacity year by year (80,000 tons
imported in Europe only).

Fake honey is the result of adulteration (therefore, it does not comply with EU regulations),
but it becomes difficult to identify with current border controls when it is mixed with the real
one. This is the reason why Italian farmers ask the EU greater protection starting with
checks to identify counterfeiting, but above all the obligation to comply with the European
definition of honey, a product that must derive entirely from bees without the addition of
other substances. Another request concerns the obligation to report the country of origin of
honey on food labeling.