ni Ronalyn Seminiano Reonico | December 13, 2020
Natuklasan ng mga mananaliksik mula sa Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) na ang mga honey products na ibinebenta sa mga groceries, souvenir shops at online ay hindi puro at 80% sugar lang.
Nagsagawa umano ng “nuclear-based tests” ang mga researchers kung saan napag-alamang mayroong syrup ang mga honey products na gawa sa sugar cane at corn upang maparami ang benta.
Pahayag ni DOST-PNRI Dr. Angel T. Bautista VII, "62 out of the 76 (82%) of honey brands that were found to be adulterated were composed of 95% C4 sugar syrup. So, they are not actually adulterated but they are just completely purely sugar syrup.”
Aniya pa, “The problem is that people are being tricked. "You may be buying honey for its wonderful health benefits, but because of adulteration, you may actually just be buying pure sugar syrup. Consuming too much pure sugar syrup can lead to harmful health effects.”
Saad pa ni Dr. Bautista, may masamang epekto ang pagbebenta ng mga pekeng honey sa pangkabuhayan ng mga lehitimong honey producers. Aniya, “Imagine, incomes that are supposed to be for our honest beekeepers and honey producers are being lost instead due to adulteration and fraud. This is affecting our local honey industry so badly that we estimate that they are losing PhP200 million per year.”
Ipinaalam na rin umano ng grupo ni Dr. Bautista na kinabibilangan ni Dr. Cleofas F. Cervancia, retired professor sa University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), sa Department of Agriculture at Food and Drug Administration ang kanilang natuklasan upang maaksiyunan.
Aniya, “If we just release the names of the companies, they may stop for a while. But no one can stop them from faking honey again in the future. If we incorporate these isotope-based standards into our regulatory system and the Philippine National Standards, then we think it will be long-lasting solution to this problem.”