year at this time, the same thing happens: Fake honey is offered for sale, and consumers are asked to be aware.
After receiving an anonymous tip about fake honey being produced for Rosh Hashana, inspectors from the Animal and Plant Supervision Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Israeli Honey Association, took the necessary actions to find the manufacturer responsible for producing and marketing fake honey in the center of the country. The fake honey is being sold under the name "Dvash Malchut".
The first step in preventing fake honey from being sold as the real thing, was to gather samples of the suspicious product. Inspectors from the Animal and Plant Supervision Unit collected jars of the "honey" from several different food supplier warehouses in Central Israel. Samples of the "honey" were sent to a laboratory, to determine if it was real honey, made from nectar, and extracted from honeycomb.
The results were negative – the product being sold as "honey" was not real. With hard evidence on hand, the next step was to question the suppliers regarding who had sold them the "honey". The investigation lead to the discovery of a "factory" in Central Israel, that produced the fake honey. The "factory" was no more than a storage facility, with poor sanitary conditions. But most important of all, the "honey" was made by humans with a mixture of flavoring, coloring, and fragrances – not by bees and flowers.
During a raid on the "factory", 2000 jars of the fake honey were confiscated, totaling 200 kilograms of the bogus product. The fake honey was destroyed, and charges are being brought against the suspects in the case. The Honey Association and the Ministry of Agriculture ask the public not to purchase the fake honey.
The motivation for producing and selling fake honey is the large profit incurred, as the cost of producing the mixture that looks, smells, and tastes like honey is much less than what it can be sold for.
"Whenever purchasing any food product, the consumer should look for the manufacturer's phone number on the label. It is preferable to also look for a symbol on the label, provided by the Honey Association, which verifies that the honey has passed a quality check," representatives of the Honey Association warn.
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