{"id":665832,"date":"2025-04-28T03:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T00:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/austria-trials-dna-testing-to-uncover-honey-fraud\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T03:22:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T00:22:38","slug":"austria-trials-dna-testing-to-uncover-honey-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/austria-trials-dna-testing-to-uncover-honey-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Austria trials DNA testing to uncover honey fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3bc231a52e4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3bc231a52e4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/austria-trials-dna-testing-to-uncover-honey-fraud\/#Beekeepers_livelihoods_threatened\" >Beekeepers&#8217; livelihoods threatened<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/austria-trials-dna-testing-to-uncover-honey-fraud\/#Rigorous_process\" >Rigorous process<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/only-a-few-european-la.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/only-a-few-european-la.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Only a few European laboratories run DNA analysis to test honey.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/only-a-few-european-la.jpg\" alt=\"Only a few European laboratories run DNA analysis to test honey\" title=\"Only a few European laboratories run DNA analysis to test honey.\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Only a few European laboratories run DNA analysis to test honey.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>At a laboratory in Austria&#8217;s mountainous Tyrol province, scientists are DNA testing about 100 honey samples a month to learn about their composition\u2014and in some cases to determine whether they have been adulterated.<\/p>\n<p>With fake honey flooding markets, and only a few European laboratories running such analysis, the small Austrian company Sinsoma began offering the tests two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is really something new for the honey market,&#8221; said Corinna Wallinger, head of sales at Sinsoma.<\/p>\n<p>It is essential that <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> &#8220;always moves forward\u2014just as the counterfeiters&#8221; do, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Honey cannot have ingredients such as water or inexpensive sugar syrups\u2014which might boost its volume\u2014added to it, according to EU legislation.<\/p>\n<p>But tests have shown that is common practice.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2021 and 2022, 46% of the honey tested under an EU investigation as it entered the bloc was flagged as potentially adulterated, up from 14% in the 2015-17 period.<\/p>\n<p>Of the suspicious consignments, 74% were of Chinese origin.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Beekeepers_livelihoods_threatened\"><\/span>Beekeepers&#8217; livelihoods threatened<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Seeking to better detect fraud, Austria&#8217;s health and food safety agency (AGES) used DNA testing for the first time this year and is still evaluating the results.<\/p>\n<p>European supermarket chain SPAR also ordered DNA tests for its honey.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/dna-analysis-of-honey.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/dna-analysis-of-honey.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"DNA analysis of honey can reveal what plants the bees frequented.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/dna-analysis-of-honey.jpg\" alt=\"DNA analysis of honey can reveal what plants the bees frequented\" title=\"DNA analysis of honey can reveal what plants the bees frequented.\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3\">\n                DNA analysis of honey can reveal what plants the bees frequented.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The chain put its honeys\u2014taken off the shelves late last year in Austria for testing\u2014back after they passed DNA tests and another analysis.<\/p>\n<p>Besides cheating consumers, fake honey threatens the livelihood of beekeepers, who struggle to compete with the far lower prices of imported honey\u2014often blended from various countries\u2014and are demanding more effective testing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a chance at all,&#8221; said Matthias Kopetzky, owner of the Wiener Bezirksimkerei, which takes care of up to 350 hives in Vienna, as bees buzzed around him on a meadow overlooking the capital.<\/p>\n<p>While the European Union is the world&#8217;s top honey producer after China, it is also the second-biggest importer after the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the bloc&#8217;s honey imports come from Ukraine, China and Argentina, according to EU data.<\/p>\n<p>An EU directive adopted last year stipulates that honey labels from mid-2026 must detail the countries of origin, as opposed to merely referencing a &#8220;blend of EU and non-EU honeys&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/corinna-wallinger-co-f.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/corinna-wallinger-co-f.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Corinna Wallinger co-founded Sinsoma, which has been offering honey DNA testing for two years.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/corinna-wallinger-co-f.jpg\" alt=\"Corinna Wallinger co-founded Sinsoma, which has been offering honey DNA testing for two years\" title=\"Corinna Wallinger co-founded Sinsoma, which has been offering honey DNA testing for two years.\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3\">\n                Corinna Wallinger co-founded Sinsoma, which has been offering honey DNA testing for two years.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Beekeepers like Kopetzky hope the new rule will raise consumer awareness.<\/p>\n<p>Brussels also set up a group of experts, with a mandate until 2028, to &#8220;harmonize methods to detect adulteration in honey and trace the product back to the harvesting producer or importer&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rigorous_process\"><\/span>Rigorous process<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Austria&#8217;s Sinsoma has specialized in DNA testing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Honey is full of DNA traces, of information from the environment where bees collected the nectar. Every honey has a unique DNA profile,&#8221; Wallinger said.<\/p>\n<p>When a honey sample lacks a wide range of DNA traces or for example contains a high proportion of DNA traces from rice or corn\u2014which bees do not frequent\u2014this indicates a honey is not genuine, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Co-founded by Wallinger in 2018, Sinsoma now employs about a dozen people working in the small laboratory room and adjacent open office space in the quiet town of Voels near Innsbruck.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"article-gallery js-article-gallery\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/beekeeper-matthias-kop.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/beekeeper-matthias-kop.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Beekeeper Matthias Kopetzky demands more effective testing to curb fake honey.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\">\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800\/2025\/beekeeper-matthias-kop.jpg\" alt=\"Beekeeper Matthias Kopetzky demands more effective testing to curb fake honey\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-low-up text-truncate mt-3\">\n                    Beekeeper Matthias Kopetzky demands more effective testing to curb fake honey.<br \/>\n                <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/supermarket-chain-spar.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/supermarket-chain-spar.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Supermarket chain SPAR ordered DNA tests for their honey.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\">\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800\/2025\/supermarket-chain-spar.jpg\" alt=\"Supermarket chain SPAR ordered DNA tests for their honey\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-low-up text-truncate mt-3\">\n                    Supermarket chain SPAR ordered DNA tests for their honey.<br \/>\n                <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sinsoma charges beekeepers 94 euros ($103) for a basic DNA test targeting plants\u2014about half of what a classic pollen test would normally cost, she said.<\/p>\n<p>For the DNA profile, beekeepers also get a QR code which allows consumers to see exactly which plant species the bees making the honey have frequented, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Experts warn the DNA method can detect certain types of fraud but not all, and that a rigorous process of validation is required to ensure trustworthy results.<\/p>\n<p>Wallinger recognized the need for standardization of the methods but said this will take time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is always somewhat of an issue\u2014and this is also the case at the EU level,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you always wait until you can use a standardized method to uncover a fake honey, then you will always be lagging behind what counterfeiters are doing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  \u00a9 2025 AFP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAustria trials DNA testing to uncover honey fraud (2025, April 27)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 27 April 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2025-04-austria-trials-dna-uncover-honey.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-04-austria-trials-dna-uncover-honey.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only a few European laboratories run DNA analysis to test honey. At a laboratory in Austria&#8217;s mountainous Tyrol province, scientists are DNA testing about 100 honey samples a month to learn about their composition\u2014and in some cases to determine whether they have been adulterated. With fake honey flooding markets, and only a few European laboratories&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":665833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/only-a-few-european-la.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}