March 18, 2021
The Indian government is setting up a way to bring in a traceability system that can effectively check adulteration and contamination in honey. The system will have an end-to-end record to track the source of honey.
This comes after the recent reports of adulteration in honey by many popular brands, which have affected the trust of consumers. In 2019-20, the country achieved record production of 120,000 tonnes of honey. But in the absence of a proper mechanism, only a small quantity of this was traceable.
National Bee Board (NBB), the apex body for promoting apiculture, will be the nodal organisation will be the nodal organisation for this project.
The project plans to set up an electronic records system designed to ensure product traceability through all stages of production, processing and distribution, which will also help in the application of good production and manufacturing practices.
The govt. will expand the database and scale-up the traceability system to ensure consumption of unadulterated honey, as there are around 10,000 beekeepers, processors and traders registered with NBB.
Honey contamination created havoc and hence traceability has become important. Why? As it has been difficult to establish exact places of origin due to the lack of specific traceability records. Contaminated products have been destroyed to protect consumer health, in accordance with the protocols of destination markets, but it has not been possible to identify the specific beehives or beekeepers concerned so that any substandard honey-production practices may be rectified.