Almost half of all honey imported into Ireland and the EU is watered down with syrup

The honeys were sampled across 17 countries including Ireland.

EU authorities suspect widespread adulteration of honey, following a border investigation in which 46% of sampled imported honeys had unsatisfactory results, indicating they contained sugar syrups.

After follow-up investigations of 44 EU importers, seven have been sanctioned. Of the suspect honey, 340 tonnes were either rejected at EU borders, recalled, withdrawn or downgraded to sugar syrups for other food industry uses.