Honey fraudsters are sentenced to community service

Honey fraudsters are sentenced to community service

Published: Just now

fullscreenSwedish honey can be sold for a higher price than imported honey. Archive image. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

A man who sold Chinese honey and claimed it was Swedish is now being sentenced for gross fraud, writes the newspaper ATL.

The man sold 19 tons of “Swedish” honey to an entrepreneur in Värmland. The price was one million kroner.

But the buyer quickly became suspicious. He sent samples from the batch for analysis at a laboratory, and learned that the pollen in the honey came from plants found in Asia.

Trade documents have also shown that the honey came from China. It had been bought in for around SEK 18 a kilo, but resold as Swedish for three times as much.

Now the seller is sentenced by the Värmland district court. The punishment will be a suspended sentence and community service.

The batch of honey eventually ended up in Austria, where it was used to brew mead.

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