FSSAI notifies standards for honey to curb adulteration

Published on August 24, 2018
Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) has notified food safety standards for honey and its products in a bid to curb adulteration.
FSSAI notifies standards for honey to curb adulteration
  • These standards will be applicable to both domestic manufacturers and importers.
  • It will help farmers to fetch better prices for their products.

Key Features of new standards:

  • It defines honey as a natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from nectar of blossoms or from secretions of plants, which honey bees collect, transform and store in honeycombs for ripening.
  • Honey products should comply with 18 parameters like that of sucrose content, glucose ratio, pollen count, foreign oligosaccharides etc.
  • These products should contain fixed maximum 5% limit for sucrose, 10% for carviacallosa and honeydew honey.
  • The moisture percentage should be maximum 20% and pollen count should be 25,000 per gram.
  • If product is sold as honey then food ingredients, including food additives should not be added to it.
  • Honey should not be heated or processed to such extent that its essential composition is changed and its quality is impaired.
  • Honey can be labelled according to the floral or the plant source, if it comes from any particular source and has organoleptic, physicochemical and microscopic properties corresponding with its origin.
  • In case of 'Monofloral Honey', minimum pollen content of plant species concerned should not be less than 45% of total pollen content.
  • In case of 'Multi Floral Honey', pollen content of any of plant species should not exceed 45% of total pollen content.

Interesting to know:

  • About 90,000 tonnes of honey of all varieties is produced annually in the country.
  • There are about 30 lakh honey bee colonies and five lakh people are engaged in the business.
  • Government considers promoting farmers to venture into beekeeping business as a key component to increase their income.
  • Union Government is promoting honey production through "Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)".
  • It has established a National Bee Board for implementing various activities for development of scientific beekeeping under MIDH.

Question:

Q. Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) has notified food safety standards for which natural substance and its products in a bid to curb adulteration?
a. Jaggery
b. Sugar
c. Honey
d. None of the above

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