When does adulteration make fake "foreign propolis" rest?

Jiang Mei, a reporter of this newspaper, and Wang Guanghuai, a special correspondent of this newspaper

The hardworking little bee, the crystallization of a miraculous labor, propolis, is a jelly-like substance processed by collecting resin from the plant body and its palate gland secretions and beeswax, and then coating it on the gap of the hive to make the hive sterile and prevent the invasion of diseases and enemies
.
Because of its rarity, it is known as "purple gold"
.

So far, propolis researchers around the world have isolated and identified more than 600 compounds
from propolis.
Among them, the most representative flavonoids 204 kinds, terpenoids 231 kinds and phenolic compounds 194 kinds also contain a variety of amino acids, vitamins and trace elements and other nutrients needed by the human body
.
Therefore, in addition to being a traditional Chinese medicine legalized by the Pharmacopoeia, propolis is also a nutritious health food
favored by people.
Since 2000, the hot domestic propolis market has attracted "foreign propolis" to flood into the Chinese market through agents and e-commerce platforms such as "self-operated", "global shopping", "overseas franchise stores" and "overseas flagship stores", or direct mail from Australia, New Zealand and other overseas direct mail, or direct delivery from Zhengzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other places in China, and the products delivered are from a number of domestic bonded zones
.

At present, China has become the largest market
for imported propolis in the world.
What is the situation of imported propolis, and how to ensure that Chinese people can consume with confidence? Over the years, the public has had many complaints and doubts about whether imported propolis is a formal health food and how of quality, and there have been many reflections and exposures
on the Internet.
Not long ago, the China Bee Products Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Bee Association") conducted a market survey
on cross-border import of propolis for online shopping.
The results show that many imported propolis products sold online have illegal sales, adulteration and illegal publicity, which seriously affect the order of the domestic propolis market and have potential food safety hazards
.

Market: Can foreign propolis be assured that it has not been registered as a national health food?

After conducting market research on consumer complaints about the qualification, false advertising and product quality problems of imported propolis products, the China Bee Association believes that the market access of imported propolis products is one of the key sticking points, and most imported (cross-border) propolis products are not registered as health food in China, and are in the gray area
of supervision.

According to the survey, at present, there are more than 1,000 kinds of imported propolis products on many e-commerce platforms, while there are only 15 kinds of imported propolis products approved by the relevant departments of the Chinese state for health food; Among the 32 products surveyed, 31 products did not obtain a health food batch number, accounting for 97%
of the total sample.
In particular, the so-called "foreign propolis" of some countries that basically do not produce propolis, such as Australia and New Zealand, have accounted for about 40% of
the domestic propolis market.

"Propolis is not an ordinary food, and China implements health food registration management
for propolis products.
" Sun Guofeng, executive vice president of the China Bee Association, introduced that according to China's laws and regulations, propolis products produced and sold in China must apply for national health food registration, and the relevant state departments shall conduct systematic evaluation and review of the safety, effectiveness, quality controllability and label content of the health food applied for registration in accordance with legal procedures, conditions and requirements, and only after obtaining the registration batch number can they be produced and sold
.
The state has approved propolis products to enhance immunity, assist hypoglycemia, assist blood lipid lowering and other 17 health care functions
.

The reporter's investigation found that many foreign "propolis gelatin", "natural propolis" and "black propolis" on the e-commerce platform are declared to "lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure and blood lipids, preserve youth, skin beauty, nourish ovaries, maintain heart and brain health, and nourish middle-aged and elderly people
".
The reporter asked whether it was possible to provide test certificates and import approvals, etc.
, and the customer service was vague or prevaricated, saying that it was more troublesome for the brand to provide certificates and took a long
time.

Lv Zetian, director of the Propolis Special Committee of the China Bee Association, pointed out that domestic propolis products must obtain a health food certificate to produce and sell, and can only mark the approved health care function, while most cross-border imported propolis products are sold in China
with import license number, entry-exit inspection and quarantine health certificate, import and export food label audit certificate, and sales permit certificate or authorization letter provided by the exporter 。 The enterprise situation, the use of raw materials, health care functions, and food safety of "foreign propolis" that has not declared health food registration in China cannot prove whether it is legal and compliant, which violates the relevant regulations
on the management of propolis products in China.
Allowing its import not only harms the rights and health of consumers, but also violates the fairness and credibility
of the implementation of laws and regulations.

Jiang Deyong, chairman of Beijing Lesheng Propolis Biochemical High-tech Co.
, Ltd.
, who has been engaged in propolis production for a long time and is familiar with the propolis market, told reporters helplessly that the real legal and compliant foreign propolis manufacturers have very few approvals for imported propolis health food, and the strange phenomenon is that the regular propolis sales with health food approvals are not good, while the so-called imported propolis products without approvals sell very well
.

A number of domestic propolis manufacturers reported that in recent years, the relevant departments have strictly supervised local propolis and other health food enterprises, but the cross-border purchase of propolis is "open to the net", so that it enjoys different national treatment
.
Domestic regular propolis products have been seriously affected by illegal imports of propolis, and vicious competition has made many enterprises deeply difficult
.

Detection: Doping makes the proportion of fake foreign propolis exceed 60%.

Most of the foreign propolis purchased on e-commerce platforms and online has not been registered as China's health food, but they have entered the Chinese consumer market with declarations such as "natural genuine products", "high concentration", "brand direct supply" and "international expert recognition", attracting people to buy.

According to the investigation report of the China Bee Association, since 2020, 32 imported (cross-border) propolis products sold online have been sampled from online shopping e-commerce platforms such as Jingdong and Tmall, and the authenticity test has been entrusted to a national authoritative testing agency
.
The test results showed that 9 products contained poplar gum ingredients, 12 products had a high risk of poplar gum admixation, and the proportion of fake propolis products suspected of adulteration was as high as 66%.

Professor Hu Fuliang of the College of Zoology, Zhejiang University, pointed out that the national standard of propolis stipulates that propolis should not artificially add any resin and other mineral organisms or their extracted substances, and any resin colloids not collected and artificially processed by bees should not be called propolis
.

"China's native Chinese bees can not produce propolis, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total bee colony in China, the Italian bee collection capacity is average, the annual output of each group of bees is only about 150 grams, and the national output is limited
.
" Professor Hu Fuliang introduced that driven by the shortage of raw materials and interests, counterfeiters have appeared in the market to use poplar buds, poplar bark, etc.
to boil "poplar gum", with its color, state, taste similar to propolis characteristics counterfeit propolis, artificially add flavonoids to increase the total flavonoid content, unknown substances impersonate propolis and other adulteration phenomenon
.

"Propolis products are only valuable
if they are real.
" Director Lu Zetian said that the drive for huge profits is the driving force
behind the problem "foreign propolis".
At present, the price of 1000 grams of propolis raw materials in the market is about 1200-1400 yuan, while the price of some artificially brewed poplar gum is only about 200 yuan, and the profit of fake propolis is amazing
.

"Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and other countries do not have relevant national standards and industry standards for propolis, and there are no relevant standards on the labels of most products
.
" Sun Guofeng pointed out that for example, the sales price of some imported propolis capsules is only 0.
16-0.
27 yuan / capsule.

The soft capsule made of real propolis, the average cost of propolis raw materials alone reaches about 0.
40 yuan, far exceeding the sales price
of imported propolis finished products.
What's more, if imported propolis is real, its raw material price, production and operating costs are higher than domestic propolis products
.
Therefore, this abnormal price inversion is also an important factor
in judging imported fake propolis.

Lv Zetian has visited the propolis market
in many countries.
He introduced that China, Brazil, Iran, Turkey are propolis production countries, Australia and New Zealand basically do not produce propolis raw materials, like New Zealand does not allow other countries to import propolis, their own propolis production is not enough to form an industry
.
All new propolis products from Australia are basically poplar gum imported from Chinese counterfeit propolis, processed locally, and then branded with Australian and New Propolis, and Chinese guides are well aware of the local duty-free shops selling fake propolis
.
The situation of propolis products in the United States and Canada is basically similar
to that of Australia and New Zealand.
Although Brazil produces propolis raw materials, but the product is limited to propolis liquid, capsules, tablets, powders, such dosage forms of Brazilian propolis products are suspected of counterfeiting
.

These so-called imported propolis are mainly sold in China through online shopping, mail order and other forms, including some well-known foreign brands
.
The survey estimates that the annual sales of fake propolis in Australia and New Zealand are nearly 200 million yuan, and about 100 million fake propolis soft capsules (0.
5g/capsule) are basically sold to Chinese
.

Zhou Ping, the lead drafter of the industry standard propolis authenticity identification method - high performance liquid chromatography and an expert in ISO propolis international standard registration, told reporters that some consumers blindly admire the ocean, thinking that "foreign goods" are high quality, and e-commerce companies use this psychology to sell imported "propolis"
.
Test data show that imported propolis is full of a large number of fake and shoddy products, such as Brazilian propolis is also known as green propolis, some manufacturers rack their brains to produce the so-called "Brazilian green propolis" products with green pigment and emerald green appearance, and the Brazilian propolis component in the test is 0
.
As everyone knows, the appearance of Brazilian green propolis products should be tan
.

Regulation: To curb the proliferation of imported fake propolis, it is necessary to eliminate regulatory blind spots

In recent years, under the pressure of continuous anti-counterfeiting in China, domestic enterprises that directly sold counterfeit imported propolis products on e-commerce platforms have basically disappeared, and most of them have turned to cross-border e-commerce sales
.
Cross-border fake propolis evades market supervision, causing a huge market impact on formal products, seriously disrupting market order, and there are potential food safety hazards
.

Sun Guofeng, executive vice president of the China Bee Association, pointed out that China is the largest country in the production and consumption of propolis, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, ensure fair and orderly competition among propolis production and operation enterprises, and continuously improve the competitiveness of China's propolis international trade, effective measures should be taken to solve the problem
of food safety supervision blind spots of imported fake propolis.

"High-level coordination, multi-party governance, and taking the initiative to assume the main responsibility
.
" Sun Guofeng believes that to strengthen the effective supervision of cross-border e-commerce propolis products, relevant laws and regulations should be implemented to implement health food registration management, and all those without national health food approval certificates should be delisted and banned from sale; Customs refuses to import and bonded imported propolis products without Chinese health food batch numbers; E-commerce platforms should carefully review the qualifications of imported propolis products, and prohibit the sale of imported propolis products without health food batch numbers and test reports; Conduct regular market spot checks to deal with adulteration and false publicity in accordance with the law, and deter illegal acts
.

"The global production of propolis is only about 1,000 tons, and China's annual propolis production is only about 350 tons, which is in short supply, so it is necessary to give the green light to import genuine propolis raw materials and products to make up for the gap
.
" At present, China mainly imports propolis raw materials and products from Brazil, and propolis raw materials and products from Iran, Turkey and other countries, which are major propolis producers, are almost not imported
.
Lv Zetian suggested that the relevant departments of the state actively communicate with these countries to negotiate the import of real propolis to meet market demand
.

Sun Guofeng stressed that consumers should consume propolis products
scientifically and rationally.
China has been at the international leading level in propolis standards and testing methods, and the health food management of propolis products is implemented, and the quality supervision is stricter than most countries
.
The health care effect of propolis in different origins is not much different, consumers in the purchase of propolis products at home and abroad, look for the "blue hat" batch number of health food registration, do not feel that "the moon abroad is rounder than China", causing unnecessary losses
.

Preliminary review: Li Song Responsible editor: Zhang Jiazhen Review: Peng Zonglu