Food Safety Authority raps honey-labelling standards

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today urged the food industry to be vigilant when sourcing honey labelled as Irish, following the results of a recent FSAI survey, which highlights the issue of misleading labelling.

The survey of 20 randomly-selected Irish honeys, sourced from various manufacturers and retail outlets throughout Ireland, identified that five were found to be non-Irish, four of which were labelled as Irish, and one of which bore a misleading label of origin.

As a result of the breaches, a total of five food business operators were fully audited including packers, brand owners and/or retailers of the samples in question.

The FSAI is working with retailers to ensure the affected products are removed from sale.`

The five non-Irish honey products identified by the FSAI survey were:

- Molaga Pure Honey (best-before 9.8.07) – the label inferred Irish origin, but the survey indicated honey of Mediterranean/Spanish origin;

- Kilkenny Pure Irish Honey (no information) – labelled as Irish, but the survey indicated honey of Mediterranean/Spanish origin;

- Natural Ireland Honey (best-before 9.8.07) – labelled as Irish, but it the survey indicated honey of Mediterranean/Spanish origin;

- Irish Honey- Wheelock’s Fruit Stall (no information) - labelled as Irish, but the survey indicated honey of South American origin;

- Wexford Honey – Jim Kenny (no information) – labelled as Irish, but the survey indicated honey of Eastern European to Chinese origin.