How we broke honeygate

An undercover operation to contact Chinese sellers of sugar syrup brought to light the shady business

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We sent emails to Chinese companies soliciting syrups that could pass tests in India

These are the same Chinese companies that export fructose syrup to India

We received replies that syrups are available and can be sent to India

Chinese companies inform us that even if 50-80 per cent of the honey is adulterated with syrup it would pass all stipulated tests

One Chinese company exported syrup as paint pigment to us

It routed shipment through Hong Kong to bypass custom clearance

ON OCTOBER 22, 2020, a courier arrived by FedEx at our doorstep. It was from Hong Kong, and the package content said it contained plastic pigment emulsion. You may ask: Why would we be interested in plastic pigment emulsion and that too from Hong Kong? As we had established an import aspect to honey adulteration, we wanted to embed ourselves in the business. We would order samples of syrups from China that the company said with confidence could be added to honey and would pass all the stipulated tests.

We contacted two companies in China through e-mails who claimed to be honey producers (see “The China trail”, p34).

We posed as an Indian honey collection and trading company that wanted to buy these Chinese syrups that could beat all tests. We sent business enquiries to two Chinese companies. The first one was a big FMCG company called Wuhu Deli Foods based in Wuhu, in the rice-growing belt of An Hui, China. According to its website, it was a producer of four products: natural honey, syrups, dry syrups and vegan protein. Wuhu Deli was also one of the exporters of fructose to India.