Honey in the news again.

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I read an article years ago about Chinese honey. I don't think I was a beekeeper then. This precisely what they do. There are 'bee factories' where billions of bees are kept. They are fed sugar syrup that they turn into 'honey.' It is no different from any other factory farming involving other animals. Obviously the produce lacks just about every other ingredient of proper honey, made by bees, operating in a natural environment.
They also use an antibiotic to control afb , this is banned in the Uk for human use . Also the honey still carry’s afb spores, meaning that access to it by uk bees equals an out break .
it’s no coincidence that out breaks tend to start close to packing stationed with poor bio security !
 
Perhaps we should be changing our labels.
Rather than selling 'Honey', sell 'Pure Honey'.
Every year my bees collect nectar and produce the best honey ever.
I spin it off, jar it up, and have no difficulty selling all of it.
So I have no problem with shops selling cheaper 'Honey'.
 
Perhaps we should be changing our labels.
Rather than selling 'Honey', sell 'Pure Honey'.
Every year my bees collect nectar and produce the best honey ever.
I spin it off, jar it up, and have no difficulty selling all of it.
So I have no problem with shops selling cheaper 'Honey'.
Likewise.
my honey sells itself.
valued customers start asking for when the first crocus start peeping through .
I have to ration it to give all a chance ! 😀
 
Its also an educational opportunity.
I find that many people think we can take honey from the bees as and when we want.
I now tell people that Honey harvest is at the end of August (even though it is sooner),
and that each hive produces around 30 jars of honey (even though it is usually more).
This gives added value to the product.
I'm also happy to take a phone number and send a text message when honey is ready warning that supplies are limited.
It soon goes.
 
The average person doesn't care about where the honey is from they believe the label and sadly don't know the difference.
If it says honey then it's honey simple as that because they think it is all the same.

Adulterated honey isn't a new problem it's been around for many years, having a reliable test is the problem.
Currently the NMR test is the only test that can't be fooled.
Small hobbyist sales seem to be doing well and small scale beefarmers dealing direct with the public seem to be selling a lot also from what I hear.
I've sold out of spare honey, had to decline an order the other day for 1/4 of a ton, only got half a ton left and that is needed for my own retail sales which aren't much as I sell it in bulk normally.
 
My first year with bees and had enough honey to sell, with a lot of repeat orders. I had to educate people on how the bees produce it, how it’s harvested, when it’s available etc and had a lot repeat requests as soon as they tried it. I could have sold it ten times over and it was hugely appreciated.
 

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