Traditional ruler raises alarm over circulation of adulterated honey in markets

The traditional ruler of Uzi-Amizi autonomous community in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State, HRH Eze Cyril Ogbenna has raised the alarm over the influx of adulterated honey in Nigerian markets.

He spoke to journalists in his palace in Uzi-Amizi, on Wednesday, in commemoration of the year 2024 World Consumer Rights Day, an annual event which was celebrated on March 15.

Eze Ogbenna, who is an octogenarian, alleged that most marketers and distributors of honey deceptively fill the containers with fermented sugar and other “unwarranted ingredients” to form a honey-like substance and, “most deceptively fill the tops of the purported honey bottles with dead bees”.

The monarch, who said that he was a honey harvester in his youth days, said he was in a better position to differentiate between the natural honey and the adulterated types that have flooded the markets.

He expressed concern that consumption of fake honey has the capacity of destroying important organs of the human body and therefore advised those involved in the dirty business to desist from it.

Eze Ogbonna observed that other common ways in which consumers are presently exploited in the marketplace include supply of worn and defective goods, sale of counterfeit products, use of false weighing machines and other measuring tools.

He listed other deceptive ways to include false advertisement claims on products and services, misleading consumers by making false promises, use of sub-standard products that do not meet the minimum quality standards and charge of exorbitant and unjustified prices on consumers.

“Naturally, honey is medicinal. It is only God, the creator and the bees that knows the chemistry behind the formation of honey”, Eze Ogbenna said,

He called on National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Ministry of Health, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Codex Committee, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to move out and arrest the manufacturers of adulterated honey, regretting that their actions have sent hundreds of Nigerians to early graves.

The monarch also observed that the goal of World Consumer Rights Day is to promote a fair ground for consumers to purchase good quality products at a fair price.