Are You Sure That's Honey? - Mara Grunbaum

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Bryant uses a similar strategy
with honey, but instead of comparing
DNA, he compares pollen. Pollen
sticks to bees as they collect nectar,
and some of it winds up in the honey
they make. Under a microscope,
pollen grains from different plants
look very different from one another.
To examine a honey sample,
Bryant mixes it with water and
alcohol and puts it in a centrifuge,
which spins it around at high speed
until the heavy pollen separates
from the lighter components. Then
he extracts the pollen, mounts it on
a glass slide, and peers at it under a
microscope.
Sometimes Bryant knows what
plant the pollen came from right
away. Other times he compares
it with pollen samples in a giant
reference file he keeps in drawers in
his lab. Since certain types of plants
grow only in particular regions, identifying
the pollen tells him where in
the world the honey came from. And
if there’s not enough pollen in the
sample, it’s a sign that the honey may
have been diluted with something
like high-fructose corn syrup.
FIGHTING FRAUD
To Bryant’s dismay, some sly
honey producers have started
straining the pollen grains out of
their products. That makes their
origins impossible to trace. “We
suspect that a large percentage of
the honey that is coming into the
U.S. is coming in with no pollen,”
says Bryant. That means you can’t
tell if it’s good honey or not, or
where it came from.
Bryant and groups like the
American Beekeeping Federation
are advocating for new laws that
would outlaw this so-called “honey
laundering.” Meanwhile, Spink works
with agencies like the FDA to make
rules against food fraud and improve
inspections to catch it. He also helps
food suppliers choose ingredients
that are less likely to be counterfeit.
But scientists like Spink and
Bryant need help. Reports from
regular people are how the authorities
know there’s a problem they
need to investigate in the first place.
“If you think something doesn’t
taste right or something makes
you sick, you need to call the local
board of health and let them know,”
says Spink. “Your tips are their early
warning system.” 9
—Mara Grunbaum
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Cite three examples of counterfeit
foods mentioned in the
text. How do scientists work to
identify these fakes?
OTHER FOOD FAKES
Some food manufacturers sneak cheaper ingredients into their
products as a way to boost their profits. In addition to honey and
milk, these are some of the most frequently counterfeit products that
testing has caught:
FOOD
OLIVE
OIL
COCOA POWDER
ORANGE
JUICE
CHEESE
COFFEE
SAFFRON
MAPLE
SYRUP
REPLACEMENT
INGREDIENTS
hazelnut, soybean, or
other lower-quality oils
soybean flour, sesame
meal, peanut shells
grapefruit juice, highfructose
corn syrup,
or sugar water
soy protein, or cow’s
milk instead of goat’s
milk or sheep’s milk
ground and roasted
corn, barley or other
plants
onion roots, other
plant parts, red and
yellow dye
corn syrup, beet sugar
or other sweeteners
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