Honey Processors Charged After 'Honeygate' Investigations

Remember when we discovered that honey is one of the biggest products with food fraud issues? Well, it turns out that the government is tracking some of it down.

Food Safety News reports that five people and two honey processors were charged with federal crimes last week, after an investigation into illegal importation of honey from China found that honey was often misdeclared when imported to evade anti-dumping duties.

Investigations into the honey trade scandals began in 2008, so far resulting in 14 charges against individuals. In the past, studies have found that oftentimes honey from China was adulterated with antibiotics and other filters the FDA has not approved of. Furthermore, last year a Food Safety News study found that 75 percent of retail-purchased honey was ultra-filtered to avoid detecting the origin of the honey.

With the decrease in the population of bees and the rising cost of honey, oftentimes pure honey will be mixed in with corn syrup and other sweeteners to cheapen the product. To read more about food fraud, click through our slideshow of popular food fraud cases.