Centre for Science & Environment refutes statement issued by Chinese co on sugar exports

NEW DELHI: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has refuted a statement issued on Monday by Chinese company Wuhu Deli Foods which exports sugar syrup to India, following the research and advocacy firm’s recent investigation into adulteration in honey and the role played by Chinese companies in selling sugar syrup in India.

CSE says that its investigators wrote to Wuhu Deli seeking syrups that could bypass the honey specifications as mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

“We clearly wrote asking for syrups that could pass the tests,” says CSE. “These testing parameters CSE researchers mentioned were to specifically test the authenticity of honey in India,” the CSE statement added.


On December 7, Wuhu Deli Foods, based in Anhui province of China, issued a statement on its website against CSE’s investigation. Wuhu Deli was one of the companies that were contacted by investigators from CSE, posing as a fictitious honey trading firm trying to find out if Chinese sugar and rice syrup could be brought into India and mixed with Indian honey, and whether this syrup-spiked honey would pass Indian testing standards, CSE said in a statement.


In its public statement, Wuhu Deli has categorically denied that it knew that the said syrups being solicited by the CSE investigators were to bypass the tests to prove the authenticity of honey in India. Wuhu Deli’s statement also mentions that the company believed the transaction had only to do with syrup, and nothing to do with honey.

Last week, the CSE said samples of 10 leading Indian honey products were found to be adulterated with sugar syrup sourced from China. CSE said the honey packaged and sold by the top companies including Dabur, Patanjali and Emami failed a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) test, which all the companies have denied.

CSE added in its statement: “Wuhu Deli sent us a shipment of samples that contained syrup with the intention of helping us to bypass the honey testing protocols in India.”