Organic Honey. When is it organic ?

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waverider

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Anyone know what the rules/conditions are regarding Organic Honey?

Sure i once read that a hive must be 5 mile radius GM crop free.
 
I don't know the rules but when you consider organic cattle for an example you have to guarantee the bedding straw was grown organically - they might eat some.

Logically that would suggest that you have to be able to guarantee nothing within a bee flight is grown inorganically.

However I am sure somebody will be along soon to correct me.
 
I heard that in addition to rules on organic forage, the queen has to be unclipped! Bizarre or what?

Paul

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
 
I found this site, and it has a couple of bullets in regards to what is required to be organic, but it looks to be mainly canadian... im too low to post links, but ill whip up some copy pasta!

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.
 
Which is summed up at the end as "However, these rules effectively mean that UK producers can not produce organic honey"

Organic standards very greatly throughout the world, some of the US ones allow all sorts of things that would never be deemed organic in Europe
 
Which is summed up at the end as "However, these rules effectively mean that UK producers can not produce organic honey"

Organic standards very greatly throughout the world, some of the US ones allow all sorts of things that would never be deemed organic in Europe

What am I missing here Bros - why could hives for example in the middle of a large organic certified estate in the wilds of Scotland, not be classified as organic? Or does such a place not exist?
 
Not my words, but those of the certification body - I too would have thought that it is just possible in some parts of the country.... (mind you, recently announced GM trials will make it even more difficult.......)
 
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I have seen organic Cumbrian honey for sale in a local "stately home" shop and have often wondered about it. Strangely it doesn't have a producer on the label which I would have thought was illegal
 
Anyone know what the rules/conditions are regarding Organic Honey?

Sure i once read that a hive must be 5 mile radius GM crop free.
Too late for organic honey in the UK the term as been registered by a guy in Derbyshire :leaving:
VM
 
If you read the front cover of the wet and soggy 28 page glossy mag that may or may not have flopped or not flopped on your doormat this morning or not as the case may be......

SHOCK HORROR....
GM POLLEN is everywhere..

"we do need to remember that pollen gets blown around in the atmosphere"

NO SUCH THING AS ORGANIC ANYMORE



So that is the end of organic... the Soil Association.. mankind?......
.... every food product will need a GM label !
:leaving:


bee-smillieBack to me cave and skeps then!bee-smillie
 
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