New mead maker (only on my fifth batch) and fairly new (three years) beekeeper here. There is a worldwide problem with adulterated honey. Often the adulterants are things like rice syrup and other such sweeteners. These are added to the honey 'after the fact'. Here's a thing, though: in many parts of the US, mine included, this spring was challenging for beekeepers. The result for us was we extracted a bunch of honey that might have some syrup as a source in addition to nectar. That is, the syrup -- used to feed the bees in the early spring when they've used up all their stored honey but nothing's blooming yet -- got processed by the bees just like nectar would. We're pretty sure the amount of syrup that went into its making was minimal, but we'd never label or sell it as honey. Instead, it's in jars in my basement labelled "mead honey". So far, so good! My latest batch of mead is tasting quite nice and I've made lovely traditional honey cookies with the "mead honey". FWIW.