All products
8

Ingredient · Sweetener

Honey

Cleaner · 8/10, higher is cleaner

How we reached this

Minimally processed whole sweetener retaining enzymes, phenolics and trace minerals, with documented antimicrobial activity — but it is still added sugar, and AHA/WHO added-sugar limits apply to it exactly as they do to cane sugar. Two caveats the number cannot carry: (1) ADULTERATION is the dominant integrity risk — a 2023 EU coordinated action on imported honey found a large share of sampled consignments suspected of syrup adulteration, and origin fraud is common, so the rating assumes authentic honey; (2) honey must NOT be given to infants under 12 months, because Clostridium botulinum spores it can contain cause infant botulism. Bioactive content varies widely by floral source — buckwheat and manuka differ substantially from clover — so a single number necessarily averages across varietals.

Sources · 3

Regulatory position

United StatesGRAS

Also listed as

raw honeywildflower honey

Products containing this · 16

About this rating

Ratings run 1–10, higher is cleaner, and are set editorially against the sources above — see the methodology page for how an ingredient rating becomes part of a product score. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.