Around 2010, a number of countries started significantly increasing their honey exports despite not having a significant increase in beehive numbers. Many other exporting countries in the world where beehive numbers did not change significantly did not have the same increase in honey exports.
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In 2012, the European Union Joint Research Commission (JRC) started surveying honey. The JRC survey used existing methods, but some of the labs started using NMR around 2016 to look at the same samples and saw there was a dramatic reduction in the number of samples adulterated with C4 sugars, and a corresponding increase in use of C3 sugars that were only being detected by NMR. Although adequate in detecting syrup made from C4 plants (corn and sugar cane), the existing AOAC998.12 method currently in use worldwide cannot detect sugars made from C3 plants, such as rice, wheat and beets, and cannot detect below 7% adulteration.
Of the 893 samples tested by the JRC between 2012 and 2016, 127 were found to be suspicious for adulteration – or 14.2%. This was only using the conventional testing. While not part of the official JRC report, some of the labs used Magnetic Resonance on the same samples and identified significantly more adulteration using rice syrups indicating as much as 21% of samples were adulterated.
Canada just released data for a similar study and showed that 22% of the samples tested fake. At the end of 2018, data in Australia showed a similar problem. This issue is worldwide and is not going away
When comprehensive tests of honey have been done, they consistently find that well over 20% of the samples analyzed are adulterated. Over time, it is possible to see how certain tests that officials use to hunt for fake honey are bypassed as scammers find ways of getting around the tests.
Currently governments are using as their primary method, AOAC 988.12 a method that has been shown to be ineffective and unreliable for over 10 years because it was meant for detecting corn syrup. In addition it is also difficult to use and is ineffective against rice and beet syrups.