Bees for Development Journal 107
PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING
Good beekeeping practice knowledge in a nutshell
Organization of the United Nations who give this definition: “Good Agricultural Practice, economy, environmental compatibility, and social acceptance should be respected in production and processing of food items and other agricultural products in order to guarantee secure and healthy food”. This definition still sounds quite abstract. However it becomes more concrete if you transform the most important contents into Good Beekeeping Practice and summarise them as follows:
• balanced and species-appropriate beekeeping • avoidance of residues in bee products • quality management of bee products • documentation (for example concerning application of medicines,
Wolfgang Ritter, CVUA-Freiburg, Am Moos Weihez, D 79108, Freiburg, Germany
health certificate, traceability of products)
• protection of the environment • compliance with all relevant regulations for example
Keywords: bee escape, honey contamination, hygiene, residues in honey, robbing, smoker
pharmaceutical products concerning honey and food law.
A new series in which world expert Dr Wolfang Ritter offers advice for beekeeping in a bee-appropriate way and harvesting highest quality products. This series is relevant for beginners and more advanced beekeepers and will consider what Good Beekeeping Practice means for the management of bee colonies and honey processing. The relevant aspects are summarised and are detailed for practical application. A checklist will help you to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of your own management methods. Finally you should be in a position to assess whether Good Beekeeping Practice is respected in your own apiary and where changes are necessary.
Bee colony hygiene
Quality products can be produced only under proper hygienic conditions and therefore hygiene is of utmost importance in beekeeping. Harvesting honey and filling receptacles is not the whole story: residues and contaminants in bee products may be caused by management methods. Good Beekeeping Practice allows only the application of bee-appropriate methods.
Extraction of honey combs
Honey hygiene requires care over several points. Bees are sitting on the combs and they should be removed. To sweep them away with a clean brush is good. Unsuitable are repellents - substances to drive the bees away - for example ethereal oils or synthetic substances: their ingredients are mostly inappropriate for food items and can lead to illegal residues in bee products. In industrial style beekeeping, bees are often driven away from the combs using a ‘blower’: this leads to stress for the bees, and too strong an airstream can lead to the death of bees.
As for all food producers, beekeepers are legally liable for the products they sell or give away. It is not surprising therefore that the issue of Good Beekeeping Practice becomes increasingly important. You may rightly ask what is behind this expression? Literature and online searches reveal many different comments and explanations, but no clear description or even a precise definition. However, you often find the term Good Agricultural Practice (GAP). Further research takes you to FAO, the Food and Agricultural
Photos © J Schwenkel
Placing a comb near a colony in times of low nectar flow should be avoided: it immediately attracts bees and robbing takes place quickly
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