After a lab report exposes adulteration in top Indian honey brands, beekeepers, indie honey producers and scientists once again make a case to protect our ecosystem's winged friends
Hornet and honey bees fly around a water pipe during Delhi's sweltering summer. Pic/Getty Images
Last week, food researchers from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that most honey sold in the Indian market is adulterated. The CSE claimed they had chosen honey samples of 13 prominent Indian brands to undergo the NMR test at a German laboratory to check for purity. Only three passed the muster. Under the regulations of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), adding anything to natural honey before sale—including sugar syrup—is illegal.
When naturalist and bee researcher Apoorva BV heard the news, he wasn't surprised. As chairman of Bengaluru's The Hive, a collective that's involved in bee-education and introducing sustainable practices to the agrarian communities, he has been trying to raise awareness on the issue for years. What's now being labelled as "Honeygate", where Chinese companies are allegedly exporting huge quantities of syrups to India at half the price, is something that Apoorva has been addressing in his lectures at agricultural universities, All India Radio programmes and TEDx events. "Earlier, big companies would use jaggery, then came molasses and now they are adding high fructose syrup, maple and rice syrup. They hydrolise the corn syrup, break it down into glucose and fructose and pour only 10 per cent honey. This way it's easy to increase the volume. The problem is that it's also possible to bypass the standards of Indian labs by using these ingredients." Apoorva, who is also the co-founder and director of HoneyDay Bee Farms Pvt. Ltd, says companies often smartly get away with this by their choice of words in advertisements. "For instance, they will say, it's NMR-tested, but not NMR tested and passed, or, claim that it's tested at source. At source, everything is pure."
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Conservationist Ankit Vyas uses a 'smoker' to calm bees when he inspects their hives since smoke interferes with their sense of smell
The data from the National Bee Board, under the Department of Agriculture, shows that the country's total honey production in 2017-2018 was 1.05 lakh metric tonnes (MTs), compared to the 35,000 metric tonnes in 2005-2006. Presently, India also has 35 lakh bee colonies, compared to eight lakh during 2005-2006. The number of beekeepers, beekeeping companies and honey societies has also increased and, as of January 2019, the country had 9,091 registered people in the apiary business. The pandemic, and the need for better immunity using natural medicinal products, has only added to the demand.
Sonal Sarjolta of Shillar House, an indigenous brand that offers local, traditional and seasonal foods from Himachal Pradesh, says there is a huge discrepancy between demand and supply of honey. "The population of bees and the honey produced by them is no match for the population of the country. And now, everybody wants to replace sugar with honey. When beekeepers get honey from the jungles or farms, it's in small quantities. To cater to a larger customer base, companies mix it with other ingredients." Sarjolta, who is originally from Bihar, moved to the hills, and driven by the goal to uplift the lives of the pahadi women, began to source and sell the pure ghee local communities make, outside the state. The range of products has grown, and honey is an addition. "We have always had a beehive in our home. In fact, every house in Himachal does. When you extract honey, you don't take all of it; you leave some for the bees. It's also the reason why certain honey flavours, like jamun, are seasonal. In a season when the jamun trees don't flower, the bees can't extract nectar." Some of the honey, she says, is processed, given that many customers do not like beeswax and raw honey has a lot more pollen. "Raw honey also ferments, so it tends to develop foam. In the west, it's relished but here, people get alarmed. In summers, I get calls from customers saying that there was a pop sound from the bottle and that the honey looks cloudy. But honey doesn't come with an expiry date unless you put a wet spoon in the bottle." According to research, hygroscopy and low pH are two qualities that make it difficult for the sticky substance to spoil.
Vyas's terrace garden in Kandivli is teeming with rich foliage that attracts bees. The space also houses a beehive. Pics/Sameer Markande
Apoorva, who has been collaborating with and educating farmers across the country, including Jammu and Kashmir and Chattisgarh, says beekeeping is a relatively new concept in India; it was introduced after Independence. In 1953, the All India Khadi and Village Industry began organising the informal honey industry, which was taken over by the Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) in 1957. "It explains why we don't have more stringent processes and regulations in place." He says the focus now should be on small and marginal farmers, and ethical beekeeping.
Startups such as Eiwa Honey have been working in this direction. Founded by Lakshmi Gupta, Rohit Goel and Shashank Khare, the company has developed smart autonomous beehives that automate the extraction and bottling of honey, making it tamper-proof. According to Gupta, honey collects in pods inside the hive, and once full, an alert is sent so that it can be removed and replaced. Their frames have premade beeswax combs with natural pest deterrents to ensure the bees' well-being.
Apoorva BV at a sunflower farm in Karnataka. He says big companies are adding high fructose syrup and rice syrup to honey; (right) The technology introduced by Eiwa ensures that the honey gets collected in pods inside the hive
Interestingly, it's also embedded with a first-of-its-kind GPS traceability feature that gives you details of which farm the honey has been sourced from and the name of the farmer. "Bees are dying across the world, so we wanted to build a technology that will ensure our bees remain unharmed during the process, while also helping beekeepers monitor the hive's health. We are not telling them to do anything beyond their call of duty. We want them to take care of the bees by ensuring that they have access to pest-free foliage, and the rest will be handled by the technology," explains Gupta, who thinks a positive outcome of the technology has been the elimination of middlemen. They launched in December last year, but the research has been on for many years. Currently, they are working with beekeepers in Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, and plans to venture into the south of India are underway. "Rajasthan is the only state that doesn't use pesticides in many of their crops. We work a lot with farmers there. We've avoided Punjab only because they use a lot of pesticides. We need large swathes of land where pesticides aren't used, because you can't stop bees from going somewhere." Gupta and her co-founders have applied for a patent.
The white honey at Shillar House, retailed at Baro Market's online store, has a number of medicinal properties. It naturally crystallises to a buttery texture, but when exposed to high temperature, it goes back to its liquid state
Closer home, in Mumbai, a small community of naturalists and conservationists are working towards protecting bee colonies. Ankit Vyas, a wildlife conservationist with the forest department of Maharashtra, has been rescuing bee colonies across Mumbai. The hives are then relocated to a safe environment, most often in forests. Removing a colony is a specialised process that you should leave to expert beekeepers, says Vyas. Through social media and YouTube videos, Vyas educates people on what to do if a swarm lands on their property. "Even though honeybees can sting, it is something they do as a last resort and only if they feel threatened, therefore, do not panic. Sadly, what most people do is set fire to them. Habitat loss and pesticides and insecticides and ignorance are some of the biggest reasons bees are dying." At his Kandivli home, Vyas has cultivated a terrace garden with rich foliage, which is helping sustain a beehive. "Apis mellifera is the most productive and relatively docile among bees. However, apis dorsata is wild. They are known for their aggressive defense strategies when disturbed. So, it is important that you identify what sort of bees you're tackling." He was recently asked to rescue an Indian rock bee (apis dorsata) hive which had reportedly led to 30 people being stung. "I've been speaking with taarwallas and damabarwallas, who are most often called to burn bee colonies. After listening to me, one of them was full of remorse." Vyas, who has been conducting these operations pro bono, says it's high time we take bees seriously. "We rely on them for one third of our entire food supply. Foods like tomatoes, cucumbers and onions would not exist without bees to pollinate them. They play a vital role in our global ecosystem."
Sonal Sarjolta
To rescue and relocate a beehive in Mumbai, contact Ankit Vyas on 9769954602
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