Honey
Honey Defininition :
From the EU Honey regulations, generated from the Codex Alimentarius:
"Honey" means the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature.
It is important to realise that this excludes syrup fed to honey bees, processed and stored in the hive.
Even if these regulations do not apply to you in your country these are excellent rules to follow if you want to ensure your honey is of a high quality.
The above statement is borne out by the 45% rejection rate for honey presented at Apimondia for judging in September 2019. The reasons came under the following headings; illicit sugars, antibiotic and pesticide residues, HMF and country of origin discrpancies.
To the left are some useful links to producing honey for the small scale beekeeper. The laws mentioned apply to the UK and generally the EU. They are similar to the principles you will find in most 'western' countries.
"Honey" means the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature.
It is important to realise that this excludes syrup fed to honey bees, processed and stored in the hive.
Even if these regulations do not apply to you in your country these are excellent rules to follow if you want to ensure your honey is of a high quality.
The above statement is borne out by the 45% rejection rate for honey presented at Apimondia for judging in September 2019. The reasons came under the following headings; illicit sugars, antibiotic and pesticide residues, HMF and country of origin discrpancies.
To the left are some useful links to producing honey for the small scale beekeeper. The laws mentioned apply to the UK and generally the EU. They are similar to the principles you will find in most 'western' countries.
Link to a mindmap of the EU Honey Regulations
Scientific Beekeeping
info@scientificbeekeeping.co.uk
Apimondia Statement on Fraud.
Using NMR to detect fraud in Honey.