To address the increasingly prevalent issue of honey fraud, Austria’s Sinsoma has made a courageous move. Their greatest achievement is to have developed DNA testing specifically tailored for honey. Corinna Wallinger founded the company in 2018. Over the last two years, it has been working out procedures to test random honeys and recognize the plants that bees are foraging on. This novel method has the potential to give beekeepers and consumers peace of mind, ensuring they know their honey products are truly what they claim to be.
Fraudulently diluted honey is a major and growing issue. Yet in a recent EU investigation (2021-2022), fraudulent honey was detected at an alarming rate of 46% of the tested honey samples. As beekeeper Matthias Kopetzky says, calling for stronger test requirements is not enough to solve this problem. For this, he says, we need reliable ways to ensure honey is produced to high quality standards. With the market under ever greater attack from counterfeiters, Sinsoma’s new DNA testing initiative is a welcome and much needed development.
The Science Behind Honey DNA Testing
Sinsoma’s DNA analysis provides a powerful new window onto honey’s origins by showing what specific plants bees visited to produce this honey. According to Wallinger, “Honey is full of DNA traces, of information from the environment where bees collected the nectar. Every honey has a unique DNA profile.” This in-depth genomic data can be used to accurately identify true honey from tainted products.
Wallinger admits that despite its promise, achieving widespread standardization in DNA testing methods will be a work in progress. She states, “If you always wait until you can use a standardized method to uncover a fake honey, then you will always be lagging behind what counterfeiters are doing.” This underscores the importance of ongoing innovation and adaptability in testing practices to stay ahead of rapidly evolving fraudulent tactics.
Austria’s health and food safety agency, AGES, recently utilized Sinsoma’s DNA testing for the first time in 2023. The agency is still assessing the results, which could shape future regulations regarding honey production and sales in the country. Very few European laboratories are able to carry out these analyses. This is why Sinsoma’s work is so important in providing baseline standards for honey quality.
A Growing Need for Effective Testing
Corinna Wallinger, vision behind Sinsoma Their idea was born out of the evident need for faster, better testing within the honey industry. She lamented that these horrible practices were not being addressed well enough to keep consumers or legitimate beekeepers from being negatively affected by these fraudulent actions. Her company now offers beekeepers a basic DNA test targeting plant identification at a cost of 94 euros (about $103). This price point puts it within reach of a lot of producers looking to verify their products.
Matthias Kopetzky is clearly frustrated by the lack of honey testing, as he tells us, “We have no choice whatsoever. His worries are those of beekeepers across the country, anxious about losing their only source of income to unscrupulous bad actors. Honey adulteration is damaging consumers’ faith in our food supply. Initiatives like this test from Sinsoma are critical to restoring confidence in this market.
Sinsoma currently has a dozen full-time employees working out of a modest laboratory space. For its part, the company feels that it’s just getting started in its efforts to combat honey fraud. Wallinger emphasizes that “technology always moves forward—just as the counterfeiters,” reinforcing the need for ongoing development in testing methods to stay ahead of those who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the market.
Future Implications for Honey Quality
Honey DNA testing has become a major technological breakthrough. It further highlights the importance of continuing to enforce robust standards across the industry. Beekeepers and consumers alike are demanding more transparency. Initiatives like Sinsoma’s could lead to sweeping reforms in how honey is produced, tested, and marketed.
Sinsoma is now focused on developing reproducible testing protocols. In the meantime, Wallinger is under no illusions that getting to this point will require the partnership of every industry stakeholder. The road forward will not be easy, but the rewards for both grower and eater are great, indeed.