Labor urges the Morrison Government act on the ACCC’s calls for Australia to develop an agreed approach to honey testing.

Following their investigations into Capilano Honey, the ACCC found “there is low confidence in the current test method (the C4 test) used to detect adulterated honey.”

The uncertainty around the quality of honey in Australia is frustrating for consumers and damaging for the Australian honey industry.

The threat of honey launderers infiltrating our supermarkets has been following Australian consumers for months and people are worried they are not getting what they paid for when they go to the shops to buy honey.

Even worse, in cases of adulterated honey, consumers do not know what these non-honey substances are. Researchers have warned that consumers buying “blended honey” may be exposed to “antibiotics, toxins… or even alkaloids” that can have serious health impacts. This simply cannot continue.

If consumers do not have confidence in Australian honey, the honey industry will suffer.

There will be less beekeepers and, as a result, less honeybees. Less honeybees means less pollination of crops and this could be devastating to the Australian agricultural industry. Two-thirds of all horticultural and agricultural crops need honeybees for optimal pollination

Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert has known about this issue for months, but remains silent. He needs to at least take an interest in how Australian consumers are being cheated and work with the Minister for Agriculture to urgently develop a reliable, trustworthy honey test so Australians can, once and for all, be confident in the honey they are buying.

If the Government continues to let honey launderers taint our industry, the integrity and reputation of the Australia’s honey industry – regarded as one of the best in the world – could face irreparable damage. Australian consumers continue to be ripped off while this vapid government sits on its hands and does nothing.