The EU is taking strides to combat food fraud in the honey market, following the results of a coordinating testing and sampling campaign revealing almost half of imported honey samples to be adulterated.

On June 13, 2024, the same day that revised EU legislation on honey labeling came into force (Directive EU 2024/1438), the European Commission also announced a call for experts to form a new “Honey Platform,” which will advise the Commission on honey authenticity and traceability. In addition to setting new honey origin label claims and composition requirements, Directive EU 2024/1438 calls for the creation of the Honey Platform to help the Commission develop harmonized traceability rules that enable honey to be tracked from harvest to retail.