Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    BE aware of what you are shopping for at stores that sell imported goods, because not all of the products are worth the high price.

    A brand of honey imported from Thailand was found to have been adulterated with half a bottle of sugar, said Shenzhen Consumer Council on Thursday at a media conference that released a report on a study of 25 brands of honey sold in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

    The result of the research showed that Golden Bee from Thailand was sold at the highest price among all of the sample brands, at 187 yuan (US$27.19) for 500 grams. However, its quality was found to be the worst, with half of the bottle being filled with exogenous sugar, said Qin Jianping, a food quality researcher.

    The council said that they had already urged the agent that sells the brand to stop importing, as well as asked all shops to take the goods off their shelves.

    The study was jointly commissioned by the municipal council, Shenzhen Institute of Consumption Quality and four district-level consumer councils. The tests were recently conducted by the Food Inspection Center of CIQ-Shenzhen.

    In order to compare the quality of the various brands, imported and domestically produced, the research team studied 25 brands that were available in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Among all of the brands, 11 of them were self-nominated by the manufacturers.

    The 25 brands were scaled in five categories based on quality. The top brands were tagged as Five-Star Honey. The result surprised many as it showed that a high price does not necessarily guarantee good quality.

    For instance, one of the brands of honey that received a five-star rating was produced in Jilin Province in North China and sold for 35.3 yuan for a 500-gram bottle, while Langnese, a German brand, sold for 156 yuan in Shenzhen and only received a two-star rating.

    Before the research was carried out, a preliminary survey was conducted among Shenzhen consumers. Many prefer to buy imported honey, and a big proportion of consumers said that they would rather buy honey in Hong Kong because they thought imported honey had a better quality even though it was usually more expensive.

    The result overturned most people’s impressions about honey brands. Three of the five five-star brands are produced in North China, namely Kangxian County of Gansu, Shilou County of Shanxi and Jilin.

    The other two top-quality honey brands were EL BREZAL forest honey produced in Spain with a price of 82 yuan and Select pure honey, which is sold at Watsons stores in Hong Kong.

    However, the honey produced by Select available in Shenzhen was found to have an excessive amount of HMF, a substance that can potentially lead to cancer when heated or stored. The same problem was detected in the Langnese honey sold in Shenzhen.

    Consumers are advised to buy fresher honey and honey with a lighter color.

    Also, honey should be stored in a sealed bottle and in the shade. Consumers should avoid storing honey in metal containers as the acid in honey can easily dissolve the metal elements. When serving the honey, consumers are advised to pour honey out or use a clean, dry spoon.