swarm-list Mailing List: Re: Honey verification

[Gerald Przybylski (gtp000000]

We probably can't claim organic honey
because we have no control over the forage sources within the range our 
bees can forage.
(half mile to a couple of miles radius)

The bees may be foraging urban areas where many of the nursery plants 
were treated with Neo-Nicotinoids.
Home owners have contracts with pest and yard service companies that 
treat with who-knows-what.

If you live near enough to agricultural land or commercial orchards, 
they may treat as well,
so that's another hit to "organic" labeling.

In our personal operation here in our Oakland neighborhood, I can say 
that we don't
use chemicals in our hives.
I was reading the chapter on pesticide effects on honey bees in
"The Hive and the Honey Bee" (1975 printing) and it did mention that
if either the forager bees or the house bees processing honey die due to 
toxins,
the bees don't regurgitate any of that honey, so it's never stored,
so the honey that IS capped in the cells is pretty much free of chemical 
toxins.

Treating bees with petrochemical products that dissolve into the wax is 
a problem
for the wax more than for the honey.  It kinda gets stuck in the wax, 
but it can
provide a long term exposure to the house bees and even longer to the 
queen.

Rob Keller mentioned a problem with pollen the bees cap and ignore 
(entombed pollen).
He said it was high in a fungicide.  That stuff won't get into the honey 
unless
you crush-and-strain with a lot of pollen in the crush.  Something to 
ponder.

that's my 2¢


On 8/19/25 8:58 PM, Nawar via swarm-list wrote:
> Hello, I would like to ask how to check if my honey production is 
> organic.
> Thanks
> Nawar Almafrachi
>
>
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