new honey regs

[iand]

they will be true euro citizens n build their comb in time honoured fashion as per the new poultry regs ha ha

 

[Jimmy]

The EC is voting on this on tuesday 14th.

From the BBC

MEPs will then turn their attention to honey, specifically a proposal from the European Commission that the presence of GM pollen in honey would not need to be labelled.

They want to define pollen as a "constituent" rather than an "ingredient" of honey, meaning it will escape existing EU food labelling laws.

This proposal has been rejected by the Environment Committee, despite being supported by the parliament's negotiator on the proposal, the British Conservative Julie Girling, so it could be a lively debate.

If it goes through as a constituent, the GM pollen content would have to exceed an extremely unlikely 0.9% of the total mass of honey. This would mean no need for verification or labeling of honey as GM(-free).

The 0.9% would be in line with other food stuffs - any soya, for example, that is labelled as GM free can contain up to 0.9% GM soya.

 

[yellowrage 53]

hi jimmy is it poss u can pm me as new to bee keeping and a 2nd mentor is all ways welcome

 

[Norton]

so that's why the Chinese filter all the pollen out and not because you cannot trace it origin LOL

__________________
I can assure you - this is no laughing matter!

 

[Jimmy]

The debate is today, vote is tomorrow.

The amendment that they are debating and voting on can be found here:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A7-2013-0440+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=en

 

[Jimmy]

Pollen is a constituent of honey!

The EU Parliament has endorsed draft rules defining pollen as a natural constituent of honey, rather than an ingredient,

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140110IPR32407/html/Parliament-clarifies-labelling-rules-for-honey-if-contaminated-by-GM-pollen

 

[Amari]

The EU Parliament has endorsed draft rules defining pollen as a natural constituent of honey, rather than an ingredient,

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140110IPR32407/html/Parliament-clarifies-labelling-rules-for-honey-if-contaminated-by-GM-pollen

That's (presumably) good news. I marvel at your good self being able to follow the EU process so closely and speedily. Whence your skills?

 

[itma]

The EU Parliament has endorsed draft rules defining pollen as a natural constituent of honey, rather than an ingredient,

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140110IPR32407/html/Parliament-clarifies-labelling-rules-for-honey-if-contaminated-by-GM-pollen

This is only restoring the position to what it was before the ECJ (in the German GM pollen case) got the strange idea that pollen was added to honey by beekeepers during extraction.

The way of correcting the ECJ's misapprehension has been to set it down in law the right way, so that the ECJ's view is no longer relevant.

It should be noted that, for the last year or so, no one has (and no one has suggested that anybody should) put on their labels "Ingredients: Honey, Pollen".

This "change in the law" is actually just making sure that what everybody has always been doing (considering that a bit of pollen is a natural constituent of the variable mixture known as 'honey'), is actually (once again) recognised by the letter of the law.

As far as beeks are concerned, this is really "no change".