Polish Authority inspected 269 honey batches, 48 of them not perfect
Staff Writer |
In Q2 2018, the Trade Inspection Authority in Poland verified the commercial quality of honey in 43 facilities. Irregularities were identified in 21 cases (48.8%).
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The inspectors checked 269 honey batches, 80 of which were examined in the UOKiK laboratories in Kielce, Olsztyn, Poznań, and Warsaw. Inspectors had reservations about 48 honey batches (17.8%). 36 of them were challenged due to wrong labelling, with the remaining twelve (15% of the batches examined in the laboratories) being challenged due to quality reservations.
A blossom honey is named after a plant whose pollen is dominant in honey. The lab examination showed that certain types of honey featured a lower content of the dominant pollen than required under applicable regulations.
In lime-tree honey, the content of the dominant pollen of lime ranged from 1.9% to 7.7%, which in reality should not account for less than 20%.
In buckwheat honey, the content of the dominant pollen of buckwheat ranged from 23.8% to 35.5%, which in reality should not account for less than 45%.
In dandelion honey, the content of the dominant pollen of dandelion merely accounted for 5.1%.
In acacia honey, the content of the dominant pollen of acacia accounted for 22.2% instead of the minimum 30%.
In manuka honey from New Zeland, the content of the dominant pollen of manuka accounted for merely 13% and 12.2%.
In several batches of honey (buckwheat, mixed flower honey, and manuka) the inspectors found that the content of HMF was higher than acceptable.
It's a chemical compound which gradually appears in honey during storage, especially if kept in high temperature levels and in the sunlight. Its content is an indicator of the quality of honey; the lower the content, the better the quality of the honey. Moreover, in the flavour of acacia honey you could clearly sense a sugar syrup, which is not typical of honey. ■