The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will release data from a 2021 and 2022 sampling assignment to test imported honey for economically motivated adulteration (EMA).

EMA occurs when someone intentionally leaves out, removes, or substitutes a valuable ingredient in a food or when a substance is added to a food to make it appear better or of greater value.

The sampling was designed to identify products that contained less expensive undeclared added sweeteners, such as corn and cane syrups.

FDA collected and tested 144 samples of imported honey from bulk and retail shipments from 32 countries.  FDA found 10% of samples to be violative and refused entry of these violative shipments into the U.S.  The associated companies and products have been placed on an import alert.

Violative samples are subject to agency action, such as recall and import refusal and, where appropriate, FDA may consider pursuing criminal investigations.

You can refer to this FDA Guidance for more information on proper labeling of honey and honey products.