Regarding plastic, for my own hives, there is no plastic anywhere in them and I
use no plastic in processing any honey harvest. Everything is stainless steel.
I used to store in plastic, but these days use only glass.
To be certified as an organic producer requires that "Nectar and pollen sources
within 3km of your apiary consist essentially of: i)organic crops ii)
uncultivated areas with natural vegetation, and iii) crops that have only been
managed with low environmental impact methods and which cannot significantly
affect the organic description of beekeeping." Most people will struggle to
achieve this. By contrast the Biodynamic standards focus on the methodology of
the beekeeping and the immediate surrounds of the apiary, recognising that one
cannot control what happens in the wider area. That said, the last time I
checked with the BD certification folk, to be certified as BD one has to also
satisfy the organic standards. So back to the 3km rule.
Gareth
On 11 Nov 2020, at 10:57, Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As honey is made from stuff gathered within 1-3 miles of a hive, researchers
are beginning to use it to monitor pollution. The National Honey Monitoring
Scheme <https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/> has been set up to monitor the
impact of Stuff on honeybees, you can sign up and they will inform you what
they found in your honey. Apparently 1 in 5 samples had neonicotinoids in
them, but I think if your analysis equipment is sensitive enough you will see
almost anything you look for so I am not sure that is meaningful statistic.
Neonics were largely banned in the UK a few years ago and will gradually
disappear, despite their persistence in soil.
On a related note, I've offered some honey samples to a young researcher
using this idea to monitor micrplastics in the environment.He was quite
intrigued to hear I don't use foundation, the hives are all wood (some people
use plastic frames and you can buy hives made entirely of plastic). It did,
however, make me think closely about how often my honey comes in contact with
plastic on its way to my toast:
The honey strainer has a hard plastic body with a metal mesh
I then store the honey in food-grade plastic buckets
If I decant some into jars, those have some kind of plastic under the lid
I wash and sterilise the jars before use, perhaps the scrubber leaves traces
of microplastics
Food for thought.
And of course, there is the dubious claim by some producers that their honey
is "organic". This is probably true in a handful of remote locations of the
UK, but most hives are near some forage treated with pesticides. Maybe the
National Honey Monitoring Scheme will uncover some hard truths.
Paul