CVAO urges adoption of measure vs. sale of ‘adulterated’ honey
The City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) under Dr. Silardo Bested is asking the local legislature to craft an ordinance that would regulate and ensure that honey being sold in the Summer Capital is 100 percent pure and not ‘adulterated’ or mixed with sugar.
This latest revelation came in the heels of fake ‘Sagada’ oranges that are reportedly being sold by unscrupulous individuals to unsuspecting consumers at the public market.
In a regular media forum, August 17, at City Hall, CVAO Senior agriculturist Marcelina Tabelin said that during a recent consultation with stakeholders of the city’s agriculture sector, it was disclosed by a bee keepers group that many of these adulterated honey products are allegedly being peddled to the public.
To nip this nefarious activity in the bud, she stressed that legislators should immediately adopt a measure that would ensure the quality and purity of honey being sold and penalize those peddling adulterated products to consumers.
It was also during the August 12 consultation with urban farmers that a bee keepers representative said that his group only produces pure honey and uses their own original containers when these are sold to the public.
He claimed that those who sell adulterated honey usually put these in recycled containers of other products like gin bottles and others.
Tabelin assured that CVAO will coordinate with other concerned agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry in the resolution of this matter.
She also revealed that the city has around 3,000 registered urban farmers with more expected to register and a total farmland area of about 186 hectares.
Earlier, Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who called for the conduct of the consultation, assured of his administration’s full and continuous support for the city’s urban farmers and other stakeholders.
He also ordered that consultations with the agriculture sector be held every quarter with the next consultation slated this November to ensure that their suggestions and needs will be known and addressed. – Gaby B. Keith
