Sweet news for honey lovers

French researchers have developed a test to distinguish 100 per cent natural honeys from fake products adulterated with other substances, according to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The high price and limited availability of honey has led some unscrupulous beekeepers and food processors to sell impure honey containing inexpensive sweeteners, such as corn syrup, inverted syrups and high fructose corn syrup, claims researchers Bernard Herbreteau.
However, Herbreteau and his colleagues say their test can put an end to fraudulent honey sales. It uses a special type of chromatography to separate and identify complex sugars or polysaccharides according to their characteristic chemical fingerprints.