One of the most significant concerns in the Honey industry in recent years is the increasing prevalence of manufacturers adulterating honey with cheaper additives, like corn syrup, rice syrup, and sugar cane syrup. The challenge with addressing this issue is the lack of consistent and sufficient regulations for honey manufacturing and labelling.

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A study by the University of California, Davis found that up to 76% of tested honey samples (taken from grocery stores and farmers' markets) did not meet the purity and quality standards set forth by the International Honey Commission.

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Our group started with defining the primary and secondary goals of our project.

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Primary Goal:

1. Develop a method for consumers to become more informed about their honey consumption that is:

   1. Accurate​

   2. Affordable

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Secondary Goals:

1. Create a community of like-minded consumers.

2. Drive further innovation in the industry.

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After extensive research of global honey standards, existing technology for testing honey purity/quality, and market trends in honey consumption, we developed the following solution: an at-home diagnostic test strip for analyzing the glucose ​content of purchased honey, accompanied by a mobile app that stores the analysis for mass data-collection.

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Some pitfalls with our solution is the potential for a shift of the responsibility of product safety from manufacturers to consumers and changes in the human-bee relationship. However, we believe that informing consumers of their product's quality will raise awareness of the lack of sufficient regulations and put societal pressure on the industry and federal government to take action.