Swedish Tests Flag Two Greek Honey Cases Over Sugar and Enzyme Anomalies

Two Greek-origin products enter EU fraud reporting

Swedish controls have identified two cases of Greek-origin honey with compositional findings that raised suspicions of adulteration. According to Greek food-industry publication Cibum, both cases appear in the European Commission’s latest monthly report on suspected fraud in the agri-food chain, and both notifications were submitted by Sweden.

The first case involved reported problems with sugar content, the presence of citric acid and acetic acid at a concentration of 275 mg/kg, as well as foreign amylase from Aspergillus oryzae. The country of origin was declared as Greece. The second notification also concerned honey identified as Greek and recorded a deviation in its sugar profile.

Enzyme finding points to an authenticity concern

Amylases are enzymes that break down complex carbohydrates. Cibum noted that the detection of an exogenous enzyme can be relevant to honey-authenticity testing because enzymes may be associated with the production or processing of sugar syrups. A non-standard sugar profile can likewise create suspicion that a product is not authentic, although the Commission’s summary entry does not establish the precise cause of the deviation in the second case.

The available information does not identify the commercial brands, producers or companies that marketed the two products. It also does not show whether the honey was shipped directly from Greece to Sweden, passed through another EU member state, or was tested at the production, wholesale, import or retail stage. The public record therefore signals possible non-compliance but does not establish which operator or supply-chain segment may be responsible.

That distinction matters for Greek beekeepers and exporters. Without disclosed lot information or a completed investigation, the findings cannot be applied to Greek honey as a whole. They may nevertheless lead buyers to demand more extensive documentation, batch-level traceability and laboratory evidence before accepting products marketed with a Greek origin.

Honey fraud remains a wider European problem

The two cases sit within a broader EU effort to identify non-authentic honey. In the coordinated From the Hives operation conducted by the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre and national authorities, 147 of 320 imported-honey samples were classified as suspicious for non-compliance, equal to 46%. Those results illustrated both the scale of the concern and the difficulty of proving sophisticated adulteration through laboratory analysis.

EU rules require products marketed as honey to comply with the definition in the European Honey Directive. The Commission has previously said that national authorities must act when products that do not meet that definition are sold as honey. Directive (EU) 2024/1438 has also changed labelling requirements for honey blends, requiring countries of origin and, as a rule, the percentage attributable to each country to appear on the label.

Origin labelling does not by itself determine whether honey contains added sugars or other foreign substances. The Swedish notifications therefore reinforce the case for harmonised analytical methods capable of distinguishing authentic honey from products containing exogenous sugars. Outstanding questions include the identity of the products, the full laboratory results, whether Greek authorities were notified, and whether any withdrawal or administrative action followed.