Experts say adulterated honey was generally bulked up with rice syrup and beet syrup and other unidentified substances, which aren’t detected by official honey tests.
International fraudsters, often criminal gangs in China, produce the fake honey and sell it to unsuspecting suppliers at a higher price, making a fortune along the way.
“That’s why Interpol is interested,” said Phil McCabe, the president of the International Federation of Beekeepers' Association (Apimondia).
Capilano strongly denied any issues with its products and criticised the type of test – known as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance – used to detect the impurities, pointing out it differed from the official Australian test.
“Adulterated honey isn’t honey at all,” Mr McCabe said, adding that the NMR test was the most accurate available.
“By and large [the impurity] is some kind of syrup that’s been converted to look like honey, it tastes like honey. Everything about it seems to be honey when in fact it’s just sugar syrup or something else … Consumers don’t realise what they are buying and eating isn’t honey.”
The results are set to ignite a storm over how honey purity is tested that will involve the federal government as well as local and international regulators. ALDI has already moved to pull an affected product from its shelves as a precaution.
Mr McCabe said he would refer the tests, obtained by Fairfax Media and the ABC and commissioned by top law firm King & Wood Mallesons, to Interpol for further investigation.
