Feeding

[BeeJayBee]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post this is all very interesting.

Ditto. Fascinating stuff !

Thanks ITLD, reassuring to know what testing is done and that our honey could be subjected to the same scrutiny, sometimes.

Is imported wax tested at all?

 

[Fatbee]

There'll have to be an exemtion for bees - so like in my grandfather's day, leave more of the honey on the hives and sell the bees' ration on the black market

Ditto - my Grampy always said that 'little extra' sugar he got through World War 2 kept the spirits up. He was glad to have bees then!

 

[Into the lions den]

Is imported wax tested at all?

Yes. I bought five pallets of foundation from New Zealand. Certificates for all sorts of impurities had to be provided.

A friend of mines had a couple of full containers of wax rejected at the docks when it failed checks.

Its EU rules that apply to wax, so sourced anywhere in the EU is deemed similar. Testing is done upon import into the EU. EU origin wax circulated freely. Major users of wax tend to test it in their own labs in addition to at importation.

 

[B+.]

Yes. I bought five pallets of foundation from New Zealand. Certificates for all sorts of impurities had to be provided.

A friend of mines had a couple of full containers of wax rejected at the docks when it failed checks.

Did your friend have to pay for its destruction/disposal too? From what I've been told, thats what happens

 

[Into the lions den]

I know a lot of people fuss over feeding for crop and syrup contamination of honey. However it is FAR less of an issue today that it was 50 years ago. Its a malpractice that is very much in decline, though for sure there will still be a few who have remarkable crops and surprisingly high sugar bills.

I know of one individual who sources a lot of syrup and sugar, but never a lot from any one source, in the hope no-one notices how much they purchase.

However the sugar/syrup trade is a tight knit group and many of them do talk to eachother.......

 

[Into the lions den]

Did your friend have to pay for its destruction/disposal too? From what I've been told, thats what happens

That is generally what happens, yes. However in his case the wax contaminant was that it was not clean, and had wax moth widely through the load, which lead to a number of fears, including that it could have been harbouring small hive beetle.

This particular shipment was allowed to be re-exported (not normally allowed) reprocessed, and what happened after that I don't know.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Useful to know, again. Thanks.

What other contaminants would lead to was being rejected?

 

[Into the lions den]

Useful to know, again. Thanks.

What other contaminants would lead to was being rejected?

Cripes....its a long list. Mostly overly high levels of oil miscible pesticides.....and most likely to have been beekeeper added in the hive.

Particular provenances have individual issues. NZ wax has its own range of (largely natural) contaminants and to even be cleared for export requires to have analytical confirmation of it being below threshholds. PDB is also an issue after long periods of it having been used for wax moth control.

 

[dpearce4]

whats pdb?

 

[Erichalfbee]

whats pdb?

Para Dichloro Benzene

 

[BeeJayBee]

Cripes....its a long list. Mostly overly high levels of oil miscible pesticides.....and most likely to have been beekeeper added in the hive.

Particular provenances have individual issues. NZ wax has its own range of (largely natural) contaminants and to even be cleared for export requires to have analytical confirmation of it being below threshholds. PDB is also an issue after long periods of it having been used for wax moth control.

Thought I was asking you to write too much! Sorry.

Is there any way of clearing contaminants from wax, any reliable way, or does it have to be destroyed?