New Delhi : If you have been giving your kids honey bought from the market in the hope that it will help boost immunity and fight bacteial infections, this could come as a shock. According to a study caried out by the Centre for Science and Environment, most honey brands being sold in the country varying amounts of antibiotiotics, lead to blood - related disordrs and injury to the liver.
CSE said the study busts the myth that commercially produced honey was a 'natural' and 'pure' product. For the study, 12 samples were picked in Delhi, all well known brands including one each from Australia and Switzerland. "Other than a single brand, Hitkari Honey, all were found to contain multiple antibiotics. While there are no standards for antibiotics in India, the honey samples would have failed the Export Inspection Council. The two foreign brands also do not meet thir own domestic standrds,' said Sunita Narain, director, CSE.
Antibiotics are widely used by beekeepers. In 1965, an Italian species was introduced in India by Punjab Agaricus University due to its bette yield. Bt it was fiil and needed heavier doses.
Pure & Natural?
12 BRANDS TESTED:
Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Hitkari, Gold, Himflora, Mehsons, hitkari, Umang and 2 impoted brands, Capilano & Nectaflor. Only Nectaflor. Only Hitari antibiotic- free.
Antibiotics like ampicillin, oxytetracycline,ciprofloxacin found in samples. All samples (except Hitkati) had 2 to 5 antibiotics.
Anitibiotcs prevent disease in bee colonies
New Delhi: Beekeepers use antibiotics to prevent diseases in their bee colonies. In 1965, an Italian bee species was introduced in India by the Punjab Agriculture University since they were docile and had a much better yield. However, the bees aloso turned out to be much more delicate and vulnerable to disease.
Oxytetracycline, an antibiotic, is widely used by keepers to get queen bees to lay more eggs. " While no checks are prescribed for antibiotics in honey, when we procure our stock we do not know whether it contains th drugs. The industry has been aware of the problem for several years. Most big industries are nor concerned with manufacturing and only sell packaged honey. It is only a question of knowing the areas where such methods of beauraing are not used," said Nitin Malhotra, genral manager, Hitkari Pharmacy, manufacturers of Hitkarit Honey.
Hitkar does not have a huge honey businness and only operaes in the field seasonally. "We get our honey operating commercially. They work on such a small scale that they couldn't think of using antibics or pestides," added Malhotra. Narain saya since there are no domestic standards, no monitoring is carried out. Honey meant for international markets, meanwhile, goes through stringnt checks. "That stock which gets rejected for export sin it is considered unsafe for consumption considered unsafe for consumption finds its way back to the domestic market. A total of seven companies own all commercial bee farms in India. The European Union has rejected Indian expots on several occasions. For this, India set up export standards but doesn 't seem to care about what Indians are consuming. However, we have found a lot of the honey is actually coming from China whee costs are comparatively quite low, "she said.
Honey in India is regulated under three legislation's that include prevention of food adulteration rules, 1955, Bureau Of Indian Standards and AGMARK. Anuraag Sharma, Bhavan Pvt Ltd told TOI: "We do not manufacture honey. We subscribe to AGMAK and carry out all checks. However, no specific parametes have been set for antibiotics so we do not check for those. Checks should actually b carried out at the beekeeping level."
No comments:
Post a Comment