Further to my previous assertion about the honey analog being detectable. Allen Dick has already touched on this subject, and correctly indicated that a tried and tested method of detecting this kind of adulteration exists and is already widely used. Allen mentioned figures, and although I cannot give these kind of statistics, I can confirm that the carbon isotope test is used to detect the presence of sugars of non-nectar origins. As he mentioned, they can assay the carbon isotopes and come up with a balance between proper honey and non nectar sugars. A full chromatography test will then be required to determine exactly what the nature of the adulteration sugars is. The isotope test used to be expensive, but specialist labs now exist, at least in the UK and Europe (and I would be very surprised if North America did not have some), who can perform this test quickly and at relatively reasonable cost. (An aside, which also impinges on the Chinese/Canadian honey debate, is the product specification details required for supermarkets here in the UK. We recently were audited for UK Safeway and in their required information was a section on imported honey. They specifically asked if any Chinese product was being used and, if so, you have to produce the test results from a carbon isotope test on each container (approx 20 tonnes). Another requires the test to be carried out on every single packing batch, again if any Chinese (or Vietnamese in this case) honey is used, and require a full breakdown of the origins of honey used in blends. The end labelling simply states 'product of more than one country' but the retailer wanted to know more before putting their name to it. In our case it was not applicable as we were being audited for single floral source specialities none of which were Chinese, but it was interesting to see the levels of suspicion already out there surrounding this honey.) This alledged fake honey will undoubtedly be of non nectar origin and as such will be very obvious in any test of this nature. Going back to Andy's initial response, it really does seem to be an old trick dressed up in new clothes, and the assay techniques in the developed world are such that anyone cutting with this product certainly won't get away with it for long. Someone asked about whether heavy feeding for crop could be detected, and by the isotope test, backed up by other tests after the initial suspicious result, the answer is definitely yes. An example which comes to mind was in Germany back in the 80's where it was shown that 64% in one case, and 56% in another, of the sugars in a honey sample were shown to be of non nectar origin, and was ultimately traced back to heavy sugar feeding in summer by the beekeeper/supplier ( who was in Europe, not China or anywhere like that). The shipments were, of course, rejected but must have ended up somewhere. It is a long time ago now that this happened, and the sugar price in the EU is now such that the viability of such a course of action would be very doubtful, in fact standard Chinese honey now sometimes trades at less per tonne than sugar. Hope this clarifies one or two queries. Kind regards Murray -- Murray McGregor [log in to unmask]