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From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 09:25:26 -0800
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Clean wax for Organic Production?
Hi to all on Biological Beekeeping
Trevor wrote:
> The
surplus is not collected on pollination. On honey flows, wax
is
> produced. Honey taken conforms to the international standard
for honey. If
> not we can have it rejected by packers or at best a financial
penalty is
> applied.
Reply:
You say honey taken conforms
to the international standard for honey.
Trevor, am I right in assuming the following is still in place
for EC Honey
Standrds:
The 1998 import conditions
for miscellaneous products of animal origin have
yet to be formally promulgated and may take until August 2002
to be
completely finalized like here in the USA as we fight for our
clean products
here by how they are to be defined.
For example the UK 1997 regulatons
state that no person shall sell for human
consumption any animal product which contains 1) an unauthorized
substance
or 2) an unauthorized substance at a concentration exceeding
the relevant
maximum residue limit. Authorized substances and their limits
are:
Fluvalinate (NONE CONSIDERED NECESSARY - CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY
ARE LOOKING
THE OTHER WAY?), Amitraz - 200 parts per billion, Cymiazole -
1000 parts per
billion, Formic acid - none considered necessary, Lactic acid
- none
considered necesary, Menthol - none considered necessary, Thymol
- none
considered necessary, Mixed oils (Apilife Var) - none considered
necessary.
In addition flumethrin was under evaluation the last I knew and
10 ppb for
coumaphos was allowed and the total acidity limit fo 40 milliequivalents
per
kilogram applied. Now also as far as I remember all other veterinary
drugs
are prohibited which would mean residues from pesticides, herbicides
from
crop pollenation showing up in honey.
Now, though, right here, we
are talking about the wax. Wax absorbs the
chemicls first and when full they leaches out into the honey
(basic idea).
Propolis absorbs chemicals with higher affinity.
While I take it now from you,
honey is not produced on the contract
pollenation jobs, Question: Do the combs (I would assume they
do) then
transfer to the non-pollenation jobs? I take it then the honey
is filtered
to remove the floating wax particles later to avoid transfer
of particles of
wax/propolis from extracting that could have co-mingled? But
then filtered
honey is not organic honey, as organic honey allows minute wax
and pollen
floating in it or it would not be therefore organic. If the combs
do not
transfer then to the honey production places, how are the combs
seperated?
For processing organic wax production also, how are the combs
seperated?
Not trying to be picky Trevor,
but since you have such high standards there,
knowing what you do could help us to set high standards here
maybe.
> We have
to as we are an exporting country. Most Americans who
> visit Australia are surprised at the extent of QA and emphasis
that is
> placed on producing residue free honey. They say they wish
this sort of
> committment would be practiced in the USA.
Reply:
This is so true Trevor. Could
you go into how you seperate the wax combs for
processing to keep seperate now for clean wax? I am sure you
must have a
very good process in place that maybe we could use here.
> >
Question: Are pesticides applied to the crops? herbicides? Fungicides?
Yes
> > or No? Are any antibiotics used throughout the year?
Yes or no? Are combs
> > stored with PDB? Yes or No?
>
> Yes
they are but most of our honey comes off native trees such as
eucalypts
> which are in areas of State Forests where no cropping is
carried out.
Reply:
On all these crops where chemicals
are applied Trevor, how are the chemicals
dealt with in the wax and propolis? For filtering honey later?
YOu must have
excellent guidlines in place for comb rotation or filtering for
honey, but
how do you seperate for clean wax production?
> Again
we have to be very
> careful about residues as we are an exporting country. We
do not even use
> things like butric anhydride (Bee Go) to take off honey
because it produces
> a residue. The countries
> we export to require this high stanndard.
Reply:
This is good Trevor to hear
all of this. How is the wax cleaned for clean
export as we are all looking for clean wax?
> >
So you are telling me no chemicals are applied on crops in Australia,
and if
> > I were to look would find no labels approved on the
books from chemical
> > companies for various crops. Yes/No?
>
> Chemicals
are approved and applied to crops in Australia ...
Reply:
I am glad we are having this
discussion Trevor. Like here in the USA we have
chemicals applied to crops too and I imagine other countries
do too. But we
all need to learn how we each keep our combs clean and how to
process them,
rotate them and avoid the suspended wax particles from extracting
(also
pollen), for contaminating the honey (probably by filtering).
How do you keep the contaminated
combs seperate to allow for organic
production as filtered honey is not organic honey, and contaminated
wax from
pollenation jobs is not clean wax? Certainly you can share thoughts
here to
help us all? How do you get the clean wax to export then. Seperate
out the
contaminated combs from contract work? How do you all go from
contact work
for pollenation where crops are treated to non-treatment for
honey?
Thank you so much for all you
great comments so far. I am gaining much
understanding.
Regards,
Dee
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