Of bees, bee keeping, and honey production

Andy PedleyCIEH MCMIBeekeeper

ajp@pedleys.org

From Farm to Fork … Bee Keeping as An example of the integrity of the

Food chain

Of Bees ....

Apis MeliferaThe hive beeLive in ColoniesOver winter as a colonyMake honeyPollinate cropsMake wax, collect pollen, propolis, water. Sting (venom)

Of Bee Keepers

A disparate bunchAll ages, Both sexes – ~ 15000 members of BBKA, not all are members Varying skill, expertise, knowledgeKnow a bargain when they see one Many different scales … hobby to bee farmer.Not very good at writing things down (keeping records).Can be food businesses, but may not know (want to know).Are very inventiveLove their bees!

Bee Keepers Support

Various organisations … BBKA, FERA, National Bee Unit, local associations, specialist.

Publications – Bee Craft, BBKA news, Bee Keepers Quarterly, books, leaflets, pamphlets,

Events … National Honey Show, BBKA Spring Convention & locally organised,

Education – via publications, associations, BBKA courses, and events.

Of honey … what do the bees do?

Of honey … what the bee keeper does

What does the bee keeper do?

HACCP flow chart

part 1

HACCP flow chart

Part 2

Legislation

Definitions Training

Food handlers Food premises

Small scale & Registration Primary producer

Equipment Honey (England) Regulations 2003

Conductivity …. Labelling Water content and monitoring

Heating HMF and Diastase Record Keeping

Traceability

Veterinary Medicine Directive

Definition‘Primary production’ means the production, rearing

or growing of primary products including harvesting, milking and farmed animal production prior to slaughter. It also includes hunting and fishing and the harvesting of wild products.

Honey and other food from bee production: all the beekeeping activities must be considered as primary production. This includes beekeeping (even if this activity extends to having bee-hives at a distance from the bee-keeper’s premises), the collection of honey, its centrifugation and the wrapping and/or packaging at the beekeeper’s premises. Other operations outside the beekeeper’s premises (e.g. the centrifugation and/or wrapping/packaging ofhoney) cannot be considered as primary production, including those carried out on behalf of beekeepers by collective establishments (e.g. cooperatives)

Of Honey … physics and chemistry

ViscousMixture of Sugars

(Crystalises)Hydroscopic

Acidic Antibiotic

Very stable ferments

HACCP

1. Conduct a hazard analysis.

2. Determine the critical control points.

3. Establish critical limits.

4. Establish monitoring procedures.

5. Establish corrective actions.

6. Establish verification procedures.

7. Establish record keeping and documentation procedures.

HACCP for the layman

What could go wrongWhat is “wrong””How would I know if it has gone wrongHow can I stop it going wrongWhat can I do about it if it has gone wrong. How do I learn from experience (and cover my arse!).

Hazard Analysis

continued

HACCP – Detailed example

Food PremisesREGULATION (EC) No 852/2004 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE

COUNCIL

CHAPTER III

Requirements for movable and/or temporary premises (such as marquees, market stalls, mobile sales vehicles), premises used primarily as a private dwelling-house but where foods are regularly prepared for placing on the market and vending machines

Domestic premises

1. Premises and vending machines are, so far as is reasonably practicable, to be so sited, designed, constructed and kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition as to avoid the risk of contamination, in particular by animals and pests.

Domestic premises

1. Premises and vending machines are, so far as is reasonably practicable, to be so sited, designed, constructed and kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition as to avoid the risk of contamination, in particular by animals and pests.

Domestic premises 22. In particular, where necessary:

(a) appropriate facilities are to be available to maintain adequate personal hygiene (including facilities for the hygienic washing and drying of hands, hygienic sanitary arrangements and changing facilities);

(b) surfaces in contact with food are to be in a sound condition and be easy to clean and, where necessary, to disinfect.

This will require the use of smooth, washable, corrosion-resistant and non-toxic materials, unless food business operators can satisfy the competent authority that other materials used are appropriate;

Domestic premises 3

(c) adequate provision is to be made for the cleaning and, where necessary, disinfecting of working utensils and equipment;

(d) where foodstuffs are cleaned as part of the food business’ operations, adequate provision is to be made for this to be undertaken hygienically;

Domestic premises 4

e) an adequate supply of hot and/or cold potable water is to be available;

(f) adequate arrangements and/or facilities for the hygienic storage and disposal of hazardous and/or inedible substances and waste (whether liquid or solid) are to be available;

(g) adequate facilities and/or arrangements for maintaining and monitoring suitable food temperature conditions are to be available;

(h) foodstuffs are to be so placed as to avoid the risk of contamination so far as is reasonably practicable.

Small or “not Small”?H

obby

ist

Com

mer

cial

small

Not small

Grey area!Doorstep sales,

farmers markets, craft fairs and via

“Local” Retail Estabishments

Give away to local charities,

raffle prizes etc

Indirect sales -

Commercial e. g.

member of Bee Farmers Association,

BDI “B” scheme, full time occupation,

Permanent premises, permanent food room,

VAT registered; employees; showroom

Working from domestic premises

Equipment

And Materials

Whats wrong with this?

Honey (England) Regulations 2003

Key Points Only:

• Labelling – Reserved Descriptions

• Composition – honey – general less than 20% Water – bakers honey – 20 to 23% water

• Water insoluble content

• Electrical conductivity

• Diastase activity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content

NEW! Ingredient:

Pollen

Monitoring:

The Honey (England) Regulations 2003 - Water content of honey to be 20% or less(23% Bakers Honey)

Heat Treating Honey: Heat Treatment produces HMF - Hydroxymethylfurfural – Honey Regulations (England) 2003 limit 40mg/kgNo simple way of monitoring or testing.

Time taken for 30mg/kg HMF to accumulate (based on 3 samples)

30°C 100-300 days

It can be seen that honey held at an ambient temperature over 30°C for 6 months will accumulate more HMF than the same honey flash heated to 70°C for 5 minutes and then rapidly cooled.

http://snipurl.com/3pggc

40°C 20-50 days

50°C 4-10 days

60°C 1-2.5 days

70°C 3-5 hours

80°C < 2 hours

Traceability 2

That's all folks'http://snipurl.com/ajpbcfs Thanks for listening Any questions?

Martha Kearney presents the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Bees for Development Trust

During the week beginning Sunday March 6, the BBC Radio 4 Appeal will

feature Bees for Development Trust. The Appeal will be presented by Trust

Patron and beekeeper, Martha Kearney. The first broadcast will be at 07:55 on

BBC Radio 4 FM on Sunday March 6, and at 21.25 pm. The Appeal will be broadcast

also on Thursday 10 March at 15.27pm

Of bees, bee keeping, and honey production

Andy PedleyCIEH MCMIBeekeeper

ajp@pedleys.org

From Farm to Fork … Bee Keeping as An example of the integrity of the

Food chain

Bee keeping is unusual in that there are many, very small scale, operations. Most do it for fun, a pleasant hobby that is good for the environment, etc., There is a very wide range within the beekeeping community – the person who has a hive or two at the bottom of their garden, to those who have hundreds of hives and are clearly fully commercial operations. Some produce honey for personal use, others supply to family and friends. Sales may be through Farmers markets, local shops, craft fairs and the like. Some will add value to their produce, making cake, fudge, etc., Some keep bees, but then pass the honey on to others to process. Smaller scale operators are likely to work from home

Of Bees ....

Apis MeliferaThe hive beeLive in ColoniesOver winter as a colonyMake honeyPollinate cropsMake wax, collect pollen, propolis, water. Sting (venom)

Apis Melifera is important as there are other honey bees eg Cerana, Dorsata, in India … though they produce honey, the honey regs 2003 specify that honey reserved description must be from Melifera.

Other products of the hive are marketable, and so wax may be used in cosmetics or some food stuffs. Propolis is used medicianlly, as may venom. There's been a recent application for a food stuff containing venom, a novel food. The prefer what we would consider dirty water!

The bees make honey for their winter stores – with the colony containing about 10,000 bees in the winter they need about 20 kg of honey in the autumn to see them through. The beekeeper needs to leave the with this much, or the equivalent in sugar

Of Bee Keepers

A disparate bunchAll ages, Both sexes – ~ 15000 members of BBKA, not all are members Varying skill, expertise, knowledgeKnow a bargain when they see one Many different scales … hobby to bee farmer.Not very good at writing things down (keeping records).Can be food businesses, but may not know (want to know).Are very inventiveLove their bees!

Bee Keepers Support

Various organisations … BBKA, FERA, National Bee Unit, local associations, specialist.

Publications – Bee Craft, BBKA news, Bee Keepers Quarterly, books, leaflets, pamphlets,

Events … National Honey Show, BBKA Spring Convention & locally organised,

Education – via publications, associations, BBKA courses, and events.

Of honey … what do the bees do?

By the magic of photsynthesis, energy from the sun is converted into nectar, which is about 20% sugars. This is the reward to bees – and other pollinators too, for visiting the flower, where it also picks up pollen, and so cross pollination will occur as the bee goes to other flowers.

The nectar is sucked into the bees honey stomach, transported back to the hive, regurgitated, and then “ripened” with the water being evaporated off it, the bees fanning air across it with their wings. Enzyme – Diastase- has been added. These two actions convert the nectar to honey. When it is ripe – about 17% water, 83% sugars, the bees seal the cells with a wax capping. Hermetically sealed it will keep until the winter, their winter stores.

Modern bee hives are all much the same inside though different shapes and materials – wood, plastic, expaned polystyrene. The brood chamber is for the bees – they have some honey in it, but its the nest – young bees and pollen are both stored there. The queen excluder keeps the queen in the brood chamber, so there is not (ought not be) any brood in the honey supers. Each super will weigh about 30 lb when full. In a good year, 100 lb of honey. In a bad year … nada!

Of honey … what the bee keeper does

The beekeepers is ofent responsible for the whole job from putting the hives together, siting them, manipulating and managing the bees (in the summer, every 10 days minimum). Takes the honey crop off, uncaps the honey from the frames, centrifuges the honey, stores it, strains (not filters) it, may heat treat it, bottles, labels and sells it.

So a true farm to fork process.

But different people will do things differently … scale, locale, resources, opinions, etc.,

What does the bee keeper do?

Management will include, for instance, smoking the bees to calm them - assembling and maintaining hives, including perhaps treating the wood work with wood preservative. There are a variety of medications, tonics, “hive cleaners” that may be applied, including antibiotics in some circumstances. The bees are fed in the spring sometimes, and the autumn, almost certainly. In the USA, and Europe, its been established that beekeepers have used chemical treatments illegally.

HACCP flow chart

part 1

Flow chart …

HACCP flow chart

Part 2

Legislation

Definitions Training

Food handlers Food premises

Small scale & Registration Primary producer

Equipment Honey (England) Regulations 2003

Conductivity …. Labelling Water content and monitoring

Heating HMF and Diastase Record Keeping

Traceability

Veterinary Medicine Directive

The background here is a maze … the legislation is very complex, beekeepers will not be fully aware of it.

Most beekeepers will not know that they are prime producers, so they do not need to do haccp. Equally, they may not not that if they were not the would need to do haccp in the first place.

And it is easy for them to step off the primary producer route

Of Honey … physics and chemistry

ViscousMixture of Sugars

(Crystalises)Hydroscopic

Acidic Antibiotic

Very stable ferments

Different plants produce honeys with different characteristics, both in colour, viscosity, etc. - Oil seed rape produces a honey that sets very fast. Heather a thixotropic honey. In suburbia, the crop is likely to be mutifloral – but in agricultural areas a monofloral crop is quite possible – oil seed rape, beans, borage, Pollination by honey bees benefits the farmer, and there are “pollination contracts” where farmers hire beehives to be put in orchards etc. during the flowering period. Probably about £40 per hive for a month at the moment … and you get to keep the crop!Honey is acid – 3.9ph. So corrodes metalwork. Absorbs atmospheric moisture. Flows better when warm. Contains pollen, so can be traced back to its source, with amazing accuracy.

HACCP

1. Conduct a hazard analysis.

2. Determine the critical control points.

3. Establish critical limits.

4. Establish monitoring procedures.

5. Establish corrective actions.

6. Establish verification procedures.

7. Establish record keeping and documentation procedures.

I am sure everyone in the audience knows more about haccp than I do. These are the main principles What could go wrongWhat is “wrong””How would I know if it has gone wrongHow can I stop it going wrongWhat can I do about it if it has gone wrong. How do I learn from the experience (and cover my arse!).

HACCP for the layman

What could go wrongWhat is “wrong””How would I know if it has gone wrongHow can I stop it going wrongWhat can I do about it if it has gone wrong. How do I learn from experience (and cover my arse!).

I am sure everyone in the audience knows more about haccp than I do. These are the main principles What could go wrongWhat is “wrong””How would I know if it has gone wrongHow can I stop it going wrongWhat can I do about it if it has gone wrong. How do I learn from the experience (and cover my arse!).

Hazard Analysis

continued

This is the first part of a 4 page HACCP document … or thats what I think it is.

HACCP – Detailed example

Specific eample,

PDB used as a fumigant.

MRL = nil

Analysis found PDB in honey. Therefore crop unfit.

Control … dont use pdb.

Corrective measures … either analyse for pdb and widraw batches found to be contaminated (analysis expensive) or withdraw all batches.

Note beekeeping suppiers stopped selling pdb. However available from non beekeeping sources, so could still be accessed and used.

Premises essential for prodcution of safe food. 852 specificies a number of criteria. - whistle through them.

Working from home, there is going to be a grey area of acceptable and unacceptable. Not all domestic kitchens will meet the standard.

Fsa booklet catering from home useful

Most beekeepers work from home, so chapter 111 of 852 applies. Please.

Some set up honey houses in their gardens, because honey extraction is timeconsuming, messy, conflicts with other uses. Are these temporarry premises? I think not. Does this exclusion apply? Probalby not!

Most beekeepers work from home, so chapter 111 of 852 applies. Please.

Some set up honey houses in their gardens, because honey extraction is timeconsuming, messy, conflicts with other uses. Are these temporarry premises? I think not. Does this exclusion apply? Probalby not!

No need to register if you are “small scale” … but what is small scale. Big grey area. Extremes clear … honey just for your own consumption, for friends & family, completely non commercial.

Other extreme, honey farmer, principle source of income, may employ people,

But 2 hives, 5 hives, 10 hives, 20 hives

Crop very variable … 2 yrs ago I got 50 lb total, last year, 700 plus. ....

Old equipment still for sale … this off an auction site, ebay lists similar. Could be ok if you were just producing for the family. But needs to be thought about

Food safe plastics will be marked “for food” or with symbol. Stuff from odd suppliers may be sub standard, £1.00 shop not a good source!

Stainless steel, different grades, several particularly suitable for food use – equipment may be marked. Use reputable supplier and purpose made.

Dont improvise – net curtains and Cecil Tonsleys nylon stockings are NOT acceptable straining media.

Specific legislation re honey

Never understood the electrical conductivity

HMF … a product of heating

Bbka give good advice on labelling – though folk still do not get it right!

Simple, quick and cheap test of honey, to ensure complies with Honey Reg requirements – can also do ph and electrical conductivity test, equipt from thornes -

I do water content, but not others

You can t test for hmf, so need to minimise its production and so act with due diligence which may give a defence if there were a problem later. To do this you need to minimse the time that honey is treated for, but also be able to remember what you did with honey. So keep records of batches that were heat treated, how long they were heat treated for, and what the max. temperature achieved was.

Lot numbering now becmes essential,

Martha Kearney presents the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Bees for Development Trust

During the week beginning Sunday March 6, the BBC Radio 4 Appeal will

feature Bees for Development Trust. The Appeal will be presented by Trust

Patron and beekeeper, Martha Kearney. The first broadcast will be at 07:55 on

BBC Radio 4 FM on Sunday March 6, and at 21.25 pm. The Appeal will be broadcast

also on Thursday 10 March at 15.27pm