Organic Honey Standards

Organic Honey Standards


The standards for organic honey production are much different than those for producing other organic livestock products. Managing honey bees is very difficult and hence the general rules applicable for other livestock cannot be implemented in case of organic honey production.

The National Standard of Canada, Government of Canada has provided standards for organic honey production in their document Organic Production Systems General Principles and Management Standards. The North London Beekeeping Association has also summarized the organic honey standards widely used in the UK in one of its information sheets. The commonly used organic honey production guidelines have been given below (please note that the guidelines and the numbers given below are indicative):

• Location of Organic Apiary: An organic apiary should be placed on a piece of land that is maintained organically. The nectar, honeydew or pollen used by the honey bees should come from organic sources. Normally a honey bee can travel upto 3 km for gathering honey. Hence the chemical farms in the vicinity should be located outside a distance of about 3 km.
• Organic Bee Hives: The bee hives used for organic apiculture should be made of natural timber or metal. Treated timber cannot be used for making the hives. Further non-lead based paints should be used, and if plastics are used they should be covered with bee wax.
• Transition Period: Like organic milk production, there is a transition period involved when a farmer shifts from conventional honey production to organic honey production. This transition period is about 12 months. Non organic wax should be replaced with organic wax during the transition period.
• Origin of Honey Bees: The replaced or introduced honey bees can come from organic as well as non organic apiaries. The apiary where new honey bees have been introduced can be included in organic honey production only after a period of about 60 days, after ensuring that the replacement of bees and management of the apiary has been carried out using organic means.
• Feed for Organic Honey Bees: In organic apiculture, the honey bee hives should not be placed in or near farms where chemical farming is practiced. Also artificial feeding can be carried out; however, only when it is difficult to provide access to organic foraging to the bees. When non organic feed is used, the apiary should be removed from organic honey production, depending on the duration of artificial feeding.
• Queen Honey Bees: The queen honey bees can be replaced whenever required. A healthy queen should be selected for replacement to ensure preventive disease management. Sometimes artificial insemination is permitted. Cutting of wings of the queen honey bee is not permitted.
• Organic Honey Disease Control: Stress should be laid on using preventive methods of disease control such as selecting healthy queen honey bees and replacement bees. Further, antibiotics cannot be used for treating diseases. Whenever antibiotics are used, the apiary should be isolated and kept out of organic honey production for at least a year.
• Organic Honey Extraction: A live brood cannot be used for extracting honey from a brood comb. The surfaces that come in contact with the honey should be made of food-grade material or should be coated with beewax.
• Organic Honey Processing: Organic honey should not be heated above 35 degree Celsius. Gravitational settling and filtration should be used for removing extraneous solids.
• Organic Honey Labeling: Every apiary should be properly managed and records of the apiary should be maintained. One should be able to trace the honey stored in an organic honey jar to the apiary it has been obtained from.

Health Benefits of Honey

Health Benefits of Honey


Natural honey has been used by mankind since the past 2,500 years, all over the world. While the numerous health benefits of honey have made it an important aspect of traditional medicines such as Ayurveda, scientists are also researching the benefits of honey in modern medicine, especially in healing wounds.

Known as Honig in German, Miele in Italian, Shahad in Hindi, Miel in French, Miel in Spanish, Mel in Portuguese, in Russian, Honing in Dutch, and in Greek, there is hardly any region in the world where honey is not cherished.

What makes honey so popular? It is the ease with which it can be consumed. One can eat honey directly, put it on bread like a jam, mix it with juice or any drink instead of sugar, or mix it with warm water, lime juice, cinnamon and other herbs to make a medicine. It is savored by all due to its taste as well as health benefits.

The health benefits of honey include the following:

Sweetener:
Sugar can be substituted with honey in many food and drinks. Honey contains about 69% glucose and fructose enabling it to be used as a sweetener.

Energy Source:
Honey is also used by many as a source of energy as it provides about 64 calories per tablespoon. One tablespoon of sugar will give you about 50 calories. Further the sugars in honey can be easily converted into glucose by even the most sensitive stomachs. Hence it is very easy to digest honey.

Weight Loss:
Though honey has more calories than sugar, honey when consumed with warm water helps in digesting the fat stored in your body. Similarly honey and lemon juice and honey and cinnamon help in reducing weight.

Improving Athletic Performance:
Recent research has shown that honey is an excellent ergogenic aid and helps in boosting the performance of athletes. Honey facilitates in maintaining blood sugar levels, muscle recuperation and glycogen restoration after a workout.

Source of Vitamins and Minerals:
Honey contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The vitamin and mineral content of honey depends on the type of flowers used for apiculture.

Antibacterial and Antifungal Properties:
Honey has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and hence it can be used as a natural antiseptic.

Antioxidants:
Honey contains nutraceuticals, which are effective in removing free radicals from our body. As a result, our body immunity is improved.

Skin Care with Milk and Honey:
Milk and honey are often served together as both these ingredients help in getting a smooth soothing skin. Hence consuming milk and honey daily in the morning is a common practice in many countries.

Honey in Wound Management
Significant research is being carried out to study the benefits of honey in treating wounds. Nursing Standard provides some of these benefits in the document - The benefits of honey in wound management. These have been given below:

• Honey possesses antimicrobial properties.
• It helps in promoting autolytic debridement.
• It deodorizes malodorous wounds.
• It speeds up the healing process by stimulating wound tissues.
• It helps in initiating the healing process in dormant wounds.
• Honey also helps in promoting moist wound healing.

The healing powers of honey are not hyped. The Waikato Honey Research Unit provides details about the world-wide research that is being carried out on the benefits of honey in medicine. Further, BBC reported in July, 2006 that doctors at the Christie Hospital in Didsbury, Manchester are planning to use honey for faster recovery of cancer patients after surgery. Such research will provide scientific evidence to the so-called beliefs held by honey lovers all over the world and help in propagating benefits of honey to more people.

Now that you know the benefits of honey, how do you eat it? You can eat it raw, add it it in water and different beverages and you can add it in several recipes also.