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Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
The Zimbabwean honey industry is finding itself in a “sticky” predicament as proliferation of counterfeit honey is driving down prices and pushing them towards financial collapse.
Fake honey production is commonly referred to as “honey adulteration” or sometimes even honey “laundering.”
Honey vendors have of late flooded the streets in many Zimbabwean cities and towns thereby giving stiff competition to licensed operators.
The quantity of honey being sold in streets has dramatically increased and yet the place where the honeys are produced remains a mystery.
Speaking during a recent field day that was held in Shamva, Mr David Mukomana, president of the Apimondia Regional Commission for Africa, an International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, said fake honey was now being produced in laboratories.
“The issue has muted into something that we never expected, we now have what we term vegan honey whereby honey is being officially manufactured in the laboratory without any nectar, within an hour or so somebody would have manufactured a tonne of honey.
“The issue of fake honey has really taken a new twist because of the demand for honey and on the other hand there isn’t enough supply that is matching the demand so the best way we can curb proliferation of fake honey is to create awareness,” he said.
Beekeepers are appealing to the Government to devise stringent measures to protect their business from counterfeit honey products as some fake products are being imported.
“We are having this kind of honey coming outside our country, in fact fake honey is being imported from outside Zimbabwe or outside Africa so we need to look at the issue at regional level and agree on measures we should take to curb the menace.
“The moment someone brings honey from outside the country, one would actually relax thinking that it is the best honey,” he said. Mr Mukomana, who also owns a honey processing company in Zimbabwe said the biggest challenge is that consumers cannot distinguish the difference between fake and real honey.
The number of beehives, beekeepers own does not warrant the quantity of honey found in the streets being sold by vendors.
“The other mechanism we can actually make to curb fake honey is to have an increase in the production of real honey, the moment we have enough quantity being produced of real honey that will push fake honey, ” he said.
The Beekeepers Association of Zimbabwe Trust director, Mr Chaipa Mutandwa also implored farmers to increase the production of honey to curb the proliferation of fake honey.
Additionally, he urged local beekeepers to register as beekeepers because failing to do so constitutes a violation of the law.
According to experts, real honey does not dissolve in water and instead settles at the bottom of the container in a lump.
Furthermore, fake honey dissolves in water fast, making it easy to tell that it is not pure, but real honey takes time to dissolve if stirred.
Another easy test is to dip a matchstick in honey; if the honey is genuine, it will ignite immediately after being submerged, but fake honey will not light the match due to the moisture content.
Online Reporter