Australia's biggest honey producer rocked by fake claims

Canberra: Australia's largest honey producer Capilano has been accused by testers of using fake honey in one of its products, media reports said on Monday.

Capilano's Allowrie-branded Mixed Blossom Honey, which sources its products from Australia and overseas, claims to be 100 per cent honey.

However, lab tests have found a majority of its samples to be "adulterated", meaning they contain something other than bee nectar, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trevor Weatherhead, executive director of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council said he was not sure why anybody would want to pass fake honey off as the real thing. But cost cutting might be a reason.

So far Capilano has denied the accusations and questioned the testing method. "There is no consensus in the industry about the reliability of the Nuclear Magnetic Resolution (NMR) test that has led to the reports," Managing Director Ben McKee said in a statement.