Dr. Angel T. Bautista VII and Mr. Norman DS. Mendoza (L-R).
DOST-PNRI Honey Team gets Pagasa Award for NCR
For its excellent work in determining the authenticity of honey, a group of nuclear researchers led by Dr. Angel T. Bautista VII and Mr. Norman DS. Mendoza was named regional winner of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Pagasa Award (Group Category) in the National Capital Region in the Commission’s 2023 Search for Outstanding Government Workers.
Nicknamed as the “Honey Team” of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI), the group used stable isotope technique to test local honey brands in the Philippine market for authenticity. Their study found that four out of five brands used fake honey or completely substituted it with cheap sugar syrup.
Fake honey hurts the local beekeeping industry as it cuts the industry’s revenue by as much as 90%.
“We started the honey authenticity project as a research project but now it has become more like an advocacy,” Dr. Bautista VII said in a statement.
“Our mindset while implementing this project is that, first and foremost, this is for the people - our stakeholders who produce and consume honey,” he added.
The DOST-PNRI Honey Team was a part of the Technical Working Group that reviewed and amended the Philippine National Standards PNS Honey — Product Standard — Specifications. The revised national standard on honey now includes standards and analytical methods involving stable isotopes, as published in the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards 185:2022.
The DOST-PNRI Honey Team closely coordinates with various regulatory agencies and beekeeping organizations to continuously monitor the authenticity of honey sold in local market. The steady monitoring aims to ensure consumers that only authentic honey will be sold in the local market which will boost the confidence of consumers in buying honey from local beekeepers and sellers.
Meanwhile, DOST-PNRI Director Dr. Carlo A. Arcilla congratulated the team for the recognition, saying that it is just one proof that nuclear R&D is indeed highly relevant down to the household level. “We hope to get the national award,” he said.
In accordance with the guidelines outlined in Executive Order No. 292, the CSC Pagasa Award recognizes superior “work performance and outstanding contributions” that bring about positive impacts to an office, agency, community, or region.
(By Andrei Joshua Yu| Nuclear Materials Research Section, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute)
