SC notice to Centre on plea alleging adulteration of honey with Chinese sugar

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre on a plea alleging adulteration of honey being sold in Indian markets with Chinese sugar.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde, and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notice to the Centre on a petition by Anti Corruption Council of India Trust.

The petitioner represented by senior advocate V K Shukla also sought directions to the companies to file investigation or test reports of different honey brands or products before the court in order to ensure their authenticity.

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The petitioner relied upon the report of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which claimed major Indian brands of honey were mixing honey with a modified sugar from China which bypassed some basic tests used to detect the adulteration.

Most Indian brands like Dabur, Patanjali, Vaidyanathan and Zandu, among others failed to meet the purity parameter, it alleged.

It said the CSE investigation found that Chinese companies were exporting sugar syrup as fructose syrup with claims that it could bypass the basic test specified for selling honey in the Indian market.

"This is immensely worrying as it will compromise health in the troubled times of Covid-19,” the plea claimed.