and to buy from beeks or try to seek beek single hive or seasonal by forage type from several hives in trusted shops after due diligence
not honey is only part of the problem, the use of assorted bee preserving medicines and vermicides as well as post bee contamination with ????? is also a consideration
Imported blended honey has been a problem for years. Every so often there is a crisis when antibiotics or something else nasty are found in supermarket honey, and it all gets pulled off the shelves.
As far as sugar is concerned, it is common for British beekeepers to have to feed their bees sugar at certain times of year, but this is usually cane sugar syrup as that is easiest to get and there are some potential problems with beet sugar. Some of this may get into the honey, but this is certainly not to defraud anyone, but to ensure the bees stay alive through the winter or a cold wet spell in summer.
If you can afford it, local honey is always best as it contains pollen from local flowers, so may even help people with hay fever. You also know where it comes from.
There was a bit of fuss a few years ago when a judge ruled that pollen was a contaminant. Not heard anything lately, so assume that was over ruled at some point as without microfiltration, which is not possible for amateurs and smaller beekeepers, it can't be removed. As you say, the worrying things are the antibiotics and where the honey is purposely adulterated with sugar.
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9864 Location: Devon, uk
a bit from feeding the bees in winter or bad weather i am happy about, cutting honey with sugar is simple fraud
It's standard practice to take all of the honey and then feed the bees with sugar... Although I did get shouted down here for saying that once. The old way was to leave enough honey for the bees... but honey is worth a lot more than sugar... so.....
Feed sugar syrup to bees when their supers are in place, they will process it just like nectar and the real honey gets diluted with sugar syrup. I'm guessing that what you extract from the supers can be called honey regardless of how much of that is really sugar syrup....
So there are two areas of fraud... feeding the bees too much sugar at the wrong time of year, and then cutting the honey with sugar when processing it.
Yes, that is true. It also depends on the weather; a cold snap during the summer, or the bees being kept in by long periods of rain, and you have to feed them. We tend to leave some honey on for them for stores and feed if necessary, but either way to make sure they have enough to get them through the winter.
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