The Trap of Fake Honey on the Street- Story of Ordinary People Being Deceived

Hello dear friends,
I hope you all are doing well and spending a beautiful life with your loved ones. I wish you all happiness and peace.

It’s been a week since my wife went to our village to take her fourth-year in-course exams. I’ve been living alone all this time. Every morning, I have breakfast before heading to the office sometimes at home, sometimes at a nearby restaurant. Lunch is usually outside too. Living alone often feels a bit empty, and somehow it makes you more dependent on street food.

Today, around 1:30 PM, I went out from the office for lunch. After finishing my meal at a nearby restaurant, I decided to buy some peanuts. I love peanuts — especially in the afternoon; they make a perfect light snack.

As I was walking toward the peanut seller, I noticed a man sitting by the roadside with several plastic bottles filled with some golden liquid. At first glance, I thought he was selling mustard oil. Out of curiosity, I walked closer and asked, Brother, what’s this?

He smiled and said, “This is pure honey, brought from the hill areas. I was a bit surprised. Then I asked, “How much for one bottle? He replied, This one is half a liter, 400 taka. So one liter is 800 taka.

I stood there for a while, observing the bottles. The liquid looked exactly like mustard oil — slightly orange and a bit cloudy. Something didn’t seem right. Real honey is rarely this cheap, and it’s unusual for someone from the hilly regions to come all the way to Dhaka just to sell it by the roadside.

While I was thinking, another man approached and asked, How much? The seller gave the same reply, 400 taka for half a liter.The man laughed and said, I’ll take it for 100 taka. To my astonishment, the seller instantly agreed Okay, give me 100 and handed over a bottle of honey.

I was shocked. Just a moment ago, the price was 400 taka for half a liter, and now it dropped to 100 taka! That means the price of one liter went from 800 taka to just 200 taka within minutes.

At that moment, all my doubts were confirmed. There was no way this was pure honey. It was probably a mixture of sugar syrup, glucose, and artificial coloring all disguised as “natural honey.”

Real honey is not that easy to produce. It requires beekeeping, careful extraction from honeycombs, and proper preservation. That’s why genuine honey is expensive. Most rural or hill-area honey collectors sell their products locally, not on dusty city streets.

Consuming fake honey can be dangerous. It may contain harmful chemicals, synthetic glucose, or artificial coloring agents. Such substances can cause digestive issues, raise blood sugar levels, and even harm the liver in the long run.

In Bangladesh, it’s quite common to see people selling “natural” or “village-made” products on the roadside. Unfortunately, most of them are fake. Ordinary people often fall into these traps, trusting the seller’s words without verifying the truth.

This small experience made me realize how easily we get deceived in the name of purity and cheapness. A few words like “natural,” “hill honey,” or “pure” are enough to fool us.

My advice is simple — never buy honey or other sensitive food items from random street vendors. Always purchase from trusted sources or verified brands.

Because in today’s world of deception, that “bottle of honey” might just be a bottle of poison — and by the time you realize it, it could already be too late.