Safety
Is royal honey safe?
Is royal honey safe?
It depends entirely on the individual product, and the label will not tell you. The documented risk is not honey — it is an undeclared prescription drug. The US FDA has published notifications on 24 honey-based products found to contain active drug ingredients not listed on their labels, including sildenafil and tadalafil.
What is the actual risk?
A drug interaction, not a food problem. The FDA repeats the same warning on every one of these notifications: the hidden ingredient may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. That is the sentence that matters more than anything else on this page.
Why can't you tell by looking at the pack?
Because the defining feature of the problem is that the drug is undeclared. The FDA's standing finding is that product samples contained active drug ingredients not listed on the product labels. An ingredient list that omits the thing you would want to avoid cannot be read carefully enough to protect you. Our guide to reading a honey label in Malaysia covers what a compliant label does carry, which is a useful baseline and still not a test for what has been left off one.
Which specific products have regulators named?
Named products and what the regulator said it found
ETUMAX VIP Royal Honey for Him
- Regulator's finding
- FDA: contains sildenafil and tadalafil, the active ingredients in Viagra and Cialis
- Date
- 25 April 2022
Vital Honey
- Regulator's finding
- FDA: contains tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis
- Date
- 25 April 2022
Black Horse Miracle Honey for Men
- Regulator's finding
- FDA: contains sildenafil and tadalafil not on the label
- Date
- 2025
| Product | Regulator's finding | Date |
|---|---|---|
| ETUMAX VIP Royal Honey for Him | FDA: contains sildenafil and tadalafil, the active ingredients in Viagra and Cialis | 25 April 2022 |
| Vital Honey | FDA: contains tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis | 25 April 2022 |
| Black Horse Miracle Honey for Men | FDA: contains sildenafil and tadalafil not on the label | 2025 |
Each row is a finding about that named product, on that date, by that regulator, and about nothing else. The wider picture of the category covers how large the pattern has become.
Has Malaysia found the same thing?
Not in honey. The Health Ministry's public list of products found to contain prohibited substances carries exactly one honey entry, and the substance recorded against it is dexamethasone — not sildenafil and not tadalafil. Every sildenafil or tadalafil entry on that list is a coffee, a candy or a drink.
What should you actually do?
In order
- If you take anything for your heart or blood pressure. Speak to a pharmacist or doctor before taking any product marketed this way. This is the situation the FDA's nitrates warning describes.
- Check the product's registration. A product making a medicinal claim should be registered and carry a MAL number you can look up in the regulator's public search.
- Check the published lists. The Health Ministry's prohibited-substances list and the banned-products list are both public and searchable.
- If you feel unwell after taking one. Get medical advice rather than waiting it out, and bring the packaging with you.
For the wider honey market rather than this one category, the guide to buying honey in Malaysia sets out what the law requires a jar to carry and which certification marks mean something. Where SUBUR itself is sold is on the retail page.
Know exactly what is in the jar
See every ingredient named on the label, and the four routes through which the jar is sold.
See where it is soldFrequently asked questions
Where can I report a product I think is adulterated?
The Health Ministry runs a public complaints channel, and both the prohibited-substances list and the Pharmacy Enforcement Division's banned-products list are open to search. Reporting a specific product is more useful to a regulator than a general concern about a category.
Is all royal honey adulterated?
No regulator has said that. What is documented is that specific named products were tested and found to contain undeclared drug ingredients — the FDA has published notifications on 24 honey-based products. A finding about a named product is not a finding about every sachet sold under a similar name.
What is the danger of an undeclared PDE5 drug?
The FDA's standing warning is that it may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Nitrates are prescribed for heart conditions, so the people most exposed are often those least likely to suspect an interaction.
Has Malaysia found sildenafil in a honey product?
No honey product on the Health Ministry's prohibited-substances list carries sildenafil or tadalafil. The single honey entry on that list records dexamethasone. Every sildenafil and tadalafil entry on it is a coffee, candy or drink product rather than a honey.
What should I do if I already took one?
If you feel unwell, get medical advice rather than waiting. Bring the packaging with you so whoever sees you knows what was in it. If you take nitrates or other heart medication, treat it as urgent rather than as a question to research first.
Where can I look a product's registration up?
The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency runs a public product search, listing registered and notified products. A registered product's MAL number and the details attached to it should match the pack in your hand — a valid number attached to a different product name still means something is wrong.
