Shoppers stung by 'Irish' honey trap

Customers are being stung by misleading labels on jars of so-called ‘Irish’ honey, food safety bosses revealed today.

A survey of 20 Irish honeys has shown five did not originate in Ireland but four were still labelled and passed off as Irish to customers.

Jeffrey Moon, chief specialist in environmental health with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), said the survey found some of the Irish honeys came from the Mediterranean/Spanish region and South America.

Mr Moon warned food businesses to ensure they keep adequate traceability information and only purchase honey labelled as Irish from reputable sources.

“Consumers’ interests are being undermined by operators who are too willing to exploit those who are seeking genuine Irish products.

"This is not acceptable. The onus is firmly on the food industry to be able to trace their products back to source and clearly state the correct country of origin,” Mr Moon said.

“Not only is this the minimum consumers can expect, it is the legal responsibility for all those involved throughout the whole food chain from manufacturers to retailers.”

Denis Naughton, Fine Gael’s agriculture spokesman, said the Government has failed to address the problem of food labelling and traceability systems.

“Consumers are shopping blindfolded and farmers are having their incomes decimated by this gross abuse of our labelling laws. Consumers have rights and should be able to tell easily from the labels on food where exactly it comes from,” he said.

“Furthermore, there is a major loophole in the current labelling system, which allows beef from Brazil, chicken from Thailand or pork from Chile to be labelled as ‘Irish’.

"Currently, food from outside the EU which is ‘substantially transformed’ or processed in the EU can carry the label of the country of processing, not the country of origin. This situation is completely unacceptable.

“Irish consumers should not have to tolerate this type of deception, which is allowing products from outside the EU, which may not be produced to the same high standards, to be pawned off as EU produce.”

Mr Naughton said some of the produce labelled as Irish has been found to contain levels of residues, which would not be acceptable if it originated in the EU.

The survey conducted between July 2005 and April 2006 analysed the floral origins of the honeys by identifying the pollens.

The five non-Irish honey products, four of which were labelled as Irish with one bearing a misleading label of origin, included some from the Mediterranean/Spanish regions such as samples of Molaga Pure Honey, Kilkenny Pure Irish Honey and Natural Ireland Honey.

One sample analysed, called Irish Honey: Wheelock’s Fruit, appeared to originate in South America. The scientific tests revealed Wexford Honey: Jim Kenny, was of eastern European to Chinese origin.

The FSAI moved in to fully audit the five food business operators including packers, brand-owners and/or retailers with efforts being made to remove the affected products from sale.

Mr Moon said: “Traceability is key to maintaining consumer confidence in the food sector and food business operators are reminded of their responsibility to be able to identify from whom and to whom a product has been supplied, the one step back and one step forward approach.

“I would urge retailers to be careful when sourcing honey products from suppliers, so that consumers can trust that honey they are buying that is labelled as Irish is, in fact, Irish.”