Supreme Court issues notice in plea questioning authenticity of Indian brands of Honey

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea seeking directions to the Central government to ensure the authenticity of honey products sold in Indian markets..The plea by NGO Anti Corruption Council of India Trust also sought directions to companies to file investigation or test reports of different honey brands or products before the top court..A Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian sought the response of the Central government after a brief hearing. The plea stated that according to researchers from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), major Indian brands of honey “were mixing honey with a modified sugar from China which bypasses some basic tests used to detect the adulteration in honey.”.The petitioner placed reliance on an investigation conducted by CSE which alleged that Chinese companies were exporting sugar syrup as fructose syrup to India with claims that it could bypass the basic test specified for selling honey in the Indian market.“Most of the honey sold in the Indian market is adulterated with sugar syrup. Therefore instead of honey people are eating more sugar, this is immensely worrying as it will further compromise health in the troubled times of COVID-19,” the petition said..The plea further claimed that most Indian honey brands failed to meet the purity parameter. .“This all started when CSE investigated the decreased profits for beekeepers despite increase in demand for honey during COVID-19 pandemic. CSE investigation has found out that most Indian brands like Dabur, Patanjali, Vaidyanathan and Zandu, among other, failed to meet the purity parameter fixed for the same honey,” stated the plea..This was despite spokespersons from Dabur, Patanjali and Zandu claiming that their honey brands meet the regulatory requirements laid down by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), and denying that their honey products were adulterated, it was submitted. .Senior Advocate VK Shukla appeared for the petitioner trust..[Read Order]