VOLUME 19 (Supplement)

Honey adulteration in the Philippines after the adoption of the ISCIRA method in the national standard

Honey adulteration is the addition of exogenous sugars to harvested honey, usually done for economic gains. A 2021 study determined that 76 out of 90 (84.4%) local honey products sold in the Philippine market (store and online-bought) are adulterated (Lao et al. 2021). This emphasizes the need for a robust guideline to detect fraudulent honey products for the benefit of consumers, in both economic and health terms. In response, the Philippine National Standards (PNS/BAFS 185:2022) for Honey was revised in 2022 to include stable carbon isotope ratio analysis (ISCIRA), as proposed by DOST-PNRI. This work explores the current state of honey adulteration in the Philippine market as a follow-up to the initial study conducted in 2021. The analytical process followed the validated ISCIRA utilized in the previous market survey. 102 honey samples were obtained from physical retail outlets across various regions in the Philippines, comprising 86 local and 16 imported products. Of these, 58 of 86 (67.4%) local and four of 16 (25.0%) imported samples were classified as non-compliant with the ISCIRA authenticity criteria. Overall, 62 of 102 (60.8%) samples were non-compliant, which was comparable with the 58.0% overall adulteration rate in the 2021 study. Among the non-compliant samples, 39 (62.9%) yielded no extractable protein, while 55 contained >75% apparent C4 sugar content, including 45 samples estimated to be fully substituted by C4 adulterants. These findings underscore the need to strengthen the implementation of the revised Philippine National Standard for honey through sustained market surveillance, regulatory enforcement, and complementary rapid-screening tools.