As we all become more aware of the harm the ultra-processed foods are doing to our bodies, more of us are seeking out natural, unadulterated food to consume. 

A good example of this is honey: there could not be a more naturally-produced food, and it is packed full of nutrients and anti-oxidants, it has antibacterial properties, and it is a much healthier way of sweetening than refined sugar.

Except, it would seem, that in many cases this is not the case. 

A series of tests carried out the UK branch of the Honey Authenticity Network found that more than 90% of the honey on sale in big retailers – including our major supermarkets – is not genuine, with some of those products suspected of being bulked out with cheap sugar syrup.

The Honey Authenticity Network study submitted 25 supermarket and large retailer honeys for testing; all but one of them failed authenticity tests. 

At the same time, five further samples from independent UK beekeepers were submitted at the same time; all of them were found to be genuine.

This research replicates a study carried out by the EU last year, which found that all ten samples of UK honey submitted for testing were suspected of being fraudulent.

When we left the EU, supporters of Brexit said that the UK would be able to set its own food standards, and not have its hands tied by Brussels. 

What they didn’t say is that this would in all probability mean that the counterfeit and potentially unsafe food would end up being dumped on the British consumer.

We are now seen as a soft touch by countries seeking to offload adulterated and inauthentic foodstuffs. 

The UK is one of the biggest importers of cheap Chinese honey, coming from a supply chain which is poorly audited, difficult to keep tabs on, and wide open to fraud.

A recent undercover investigation filmed at an international food exhibition in Paris was told by a honey importer that the cheapest and lowest quality product was destined for the UK market, because it was much less likely to be subjected to rigorous testing.  Take back control indeed.

How long until we will be forced to buy chlorinated chicken and hormone-stuffed beef (which will not be labelled as such, of course), because Brexit Britain is forced to roll over and submit to a newly-resurgent, protectionist Donald Trump?

Aside from abandoning perfectly sensible and rigorous EU standards, this opening the door wide open to dodgy food is a direct result of our love affair with rock-bottom prices in the supermarket, and never mind the quality. 

That is understandable among those who are struggling to put food on the table, but even relatively affluent consumers don’t seem to be able to resist the lure of a cheap price.

The tragedy of this is that there are some wonderful dedicated and honest people out there who are making proper, unadulterated honey, at the same time nurturing our bee colonies, which are so important to the biodiversity and balance of the countryside.

Of course, these artisan producers can’t compete on price with the supermarkets – how can they when they are selling 100% natural honey which hasn’t been bulked out with cheap sugar syrup?

A few years ago I spent a day with beekeeper Leigh Goodsell in north Norfolk.  Leigh is a man who believes in keeping it simple: he markets his honey under the ‘Leigh’s Bees’ name. 

From rape in the spring, through May blossom and sycamore, to the summer mix of wild flowers, lime, clover and marjoram, to the sea lavender to be found on the marshes at Brancaster, the mix of nectars gives Leigh’s honey the true taste of the Norfolk countryside.

Leigh told me that a jar of his honey is just as the bees created it, saying, “A bee feasting on a jar of my honey would taste little difference from what it would expect to find in the hive.”

Of course, proper beekeepers like Leigh can’t compete with the supermarkets on price; imported (and likely adulterated) honey is traded by wholesalers at as little as 80p per kilogram – equivalent to just 27p per pot. 

We all know that proper honey simply cannot be made for that price, so it’s small wonder that nefarious methods are used to satisfy the traders’ miserly offer.

The truth is that if we want proper honey, we have to be prepared to pay a fair price for it. 

The only way of guaranteeing that the honey you are spreading on your toast is genuine is to buy it direct from a beekeeper you trust.