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Fiji Honey Harvesting

Good practices for small-scale beekeepers producing honey in Fiji. This presentation describes good health, safety and practical aspects of producing quality honey.

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JohnCaldeira
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199 views26 pages

Fiji Honey Harvesting

Good practices for small-scale beekeepers producing honey in Fiji. This presentation describes good health, safety and practical aspects of producing quality honey.

Uploaded by

JohnCaldeira
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPSX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Small-scale Beekeeping:

Honey Harvesting
Ensuring Quality, Purity and Safety

John Caldeira

2016 [email protected]

Honey
Honey is a food product
Made from nectar produced by flowering plants
Bees collect nectar, they add enzymes that change the sugar
from a complex sugar (sucrose) to easily digestible simple sugars
(glucose and fructose), and reduce the water content
Honey is:
82% sugar
18% water
Trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids

Acidic. Resistant to bacteria and fungus, but may cause food


poisoning (botulism) in babies if contaminated
Does not ferment at moisture level below 20%

More about Honey


The flavour and colour of honey is mostly determined
by the species of floral sources
Honey colour ranges from water white to dark
amber. Most Fiji honey is medium amber.
Lighter colour honeys are generally associated with
milder flavours, but there are exceptions
50,000 bees in a bee hive typically travel more than
100,000 kilometers and visit several million flowers to
gather enough nectar to make one kilogram of honey
Most pure honeys will eventually crystalize, especially
at cool temperatures

Regulations Affecting Honey Producers


Biosecurity Restrictions

Permit required to import queens from parts of Australia. Other importations prohibited
Permit required to import beeswax foundation
Occasional restrictions on movement of bee hives to control disease
Required destruction of hives showing outbreak of American Foulbrood disease

Agricultural Regulations require moveable-frame hives


Food Safety Regulations for honey processing
Honey Labeling Requirements

Beekeepers are Responsible for the Quality


and Purity of Their Honey
Critical Control Points
Choice of apiary location
Choice of which frames to harvest, and when to harvest
Decisions on feeding bees
Cleanliness of extracting room and equipment
Personal hygiene
Choice of materials for honey processing and storage
Choice of filtering materials
Preventing insects from contaminating honey
Compliance with labeling regulations

Quality Begins In the Apiary


Bees can forage 5 kilometers or more to find nectar, but
most foraging is within 1 kilometer if nectar sources are
available
Apiary location is an important factor for determining
honey quality and quantity
Location determines the floral sources the bees will visit
Avoid cane fields likely to be burned
Avoid garbage dumps, cane mills and factories making sugary
drinks or foods
Locations near the sea are likely to produce less honey

Do not feed bees during nectar flows to avoid


contaminating honey

Quality Begins In the Apiary


Honeycomb is capped (sealed) when the water content of
honey is lowered to 18% or less

Fermenting Honey

Refractometer

Quality Tip: Only harvest honeycomb that is 90%+ capped, and no nectar sprinkles out when shaken
Quality Tip: Harvest before cane is burnt, or immediately after burning

Harvesting Honey
Ideal for Harvesting

Okay to Harvest

Do NOT Harvest

Harvesting Tips
Shake bees off frames into the bee hive or near the
entrance
Long grass makes a good brush for removing remaining
bees
Transfer honey frames into an empty box. Keep the
honey covered to prevent robbing bees and avoid dust One lid under the honey boxes, another on top
Bees tend to be gentler in the morning, and on sunny
days
Do not harvest honey from the bottom box

The Honey House


Plan the workflow

Receiving boxes of honey


Uncapping
Spinning
Returning empty frames to the hives
Filtering
Honey storage
Bottling

Use gravity to move honey when possible, instead of a honey pump


Screen windows to prevent robbing bees
A tub of water for dipping hands and cleaning up
All equipment and tools must be made from food-grade materials and be clean

Health Requirements for Honey Extracting


Facilities
Fijis food safety regulations require that all food
business employ good hygienic practices
Most of the regulations affecting honey processing
are intended to avoid contaminants
A hygienic environment
Barriers between all possible contaminants and honey

Uncapping

Uncapping Tip: Nine frames in a box


(instead of 10), evenly spaced, makes
uncapping easier

Extracting
Two types of extractors
Tangential extracts one side at a time
Radial extracts both sides at the same time

Equipment must be clean and dry


Honey is acidic
All equipment should be stainless steel, plastic, glass
and/or wood.
Contact with aluminium and galvanized steel will
damage honey and the equipment
Extractor grease should be food grade (lanolin)

Gradually increase the extractors spin velocity to


avoid breaking comb, especially with first-year
comb

Straining and Filtering


Gravity can help. Wax floats on honey. Consider a sump
bucket or tank before filtering
Use several levels of strainers, from coarse to fine
Nylon is a preferred filtering material. The fine material used
for sari clothing also works well
Cover the honey containers as soon as possible to avoid
moisture and contaminants

Packaging of Honey
Honey storage containers must be made from food-grade materials
Honey should always be covered to prevent contamination
Used containers should be cleaned with warm soapy water, rinsed, and dried

Good

Not Good

Food-grade plastic, stainless steel, glass

Aluminium, galvanized steel, non-food grade plastics

Honey Bottling
Patience! It takes a few days for
the tiny air bubbles to rise
Bottling from a honey gate at the
bottom of a tank introduces fewer
bubbles and reduces contamination
Learn how much the empty bottle
weighs, and how far up to fill to
reach a specific honey weight
Quality Tip: Store empty bottles in a sealed plastic bag to prevent insects
from entering the bottles

Bottles
Glass or food-grade plastic are acceptable
Honey is 40% heavier than water
A one liter bottle holds 1.4 kg honey
A 500 ml bottle holds 700 grams of honey
(500 x 1.4 = 700 grams)
750 ml bottle holds 1.05 kg, often rounded to 1 kg

Use a tamper-evident lid or lid-label


Recycled plastic or glass bottles are discouraged,
but acceptable if thoroughly cleaned

Fiji Honeys

Labeling Honey
Honey customers tend to be brand-loyal. Promote your brand with a good
label
Legal requirements for honey labels:

The word Honey (contents)


Weight of the contents (grams)
Packing date or lot number
A Best if used by or expiry date
Name and contact information for the producer or packer
Nutritional information
Bar code (optional)

Its okay to use the words Fiji, Pure, Natural, Raw, and to specify the
originating district or province of the honey
Bar codes can be purchased on the internet

Common Labeling Mistakes


Secondary information may go on
the back of the bottle

Organic Honey
Organic honey can be sold for a higher price,
but it must meet specific criteria
The nectar, pollen and water the bees collect must come from organic (pesticide
and herbicide free) sources. No chemical use on bee forage within 3 kilometers
No medications or parasite control chemicals applied in bee hives
No treated timber used for bee hives
No spraying weed-killer in the bee yard
Sugar feeding is only allowed to prevent starvation; only off-season
Pure beeswax foundation only - No plastic foundation or frames, or
paraffin/beeswax blend foundation
Common sense: Away from garbage dumps, cane mills, drink bottling companies

Organic Honey Certification


Standards are dependent on the honey market
Honey sold in Fiji should meet criteria of the Pacific Organic Standard
Exported honey should meet criteria of the destination market

Certification is on a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)


"Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) are locally focused quality
assurance systems.They certify producers based on active participation
of stakeholders and are built on a foundation of trust,social networks
and knowledge exchange.

- Organics International
Fiji does not currently have an organization providing PGS certification for
honey

Honey Judging Criteria


Appearance
Accurate volume of honey and uniformity
Colour
Clarity

Freedom from impurities, including bubbles


Aroma
Flavour
Moisture

Melting Beeswax Cappings


Beeswax melts at 64 degrees C. Wax discolours at 85
C. Water boils at 100 C.
Solar melter The best solution for most beekeepers
Double-boiler (pot inside a larger pot), or a pot with
3 cm water in bottom.
Rice cooker

Marketing Honey
Small-scale beekeepers have several options
Bulk sales at wholesale prices
Bottle and label honey for sale to shopkeepers at distributor prices
Bottle, label and sell at retail prices

Best Practices for buyers of bulk honey


1.
2.
3.
4.

Test moisture level with a refractometer


Taste the honey
Filter all purchased honey
Retain a sample from each lot purchased

Best practices for sellers of bulk honey


. Compare price offers from several buyers
. Promote your attention to quality especially taste and low moisture

Percentage of Retail Honey Price Captured


100

Retailer 90
80

Honey
Packer/70
Distributor
60

Percent of Retail Value 50


40

Honey
Producer30
20
10
0

Thank you

John Caldeira

2016 [email protected]

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