AFRICA-WALES HONEY AND BEESWAX TRADE PROJECT
Bees for Development Journal 97
Tropical Forest Products Ltd is a Welsh Company specialising in the import and sale of honey and beeswax from Africa, as well as marketing their own British honey.
honey sinks to the bottom. Eventually a slurry of wax, comb debris and just a little honey is left, which will settle out very slowly and only very small amounts of honey can be tapped off at this point. This remainder of honey is not worthwhile extracting. A fine mesh sieve made to fit tight above the wax slurry is now bolted into the tank and water added to bring the level up above the sieve. This is left to heat overnight, the wax melts and comes up through the sieve. This clean filtered wax can then be tapped off.
Guiding Hope is a honey and beeswax trading company in Cameroon. It was established in 2007 by young entrepreneurs with the aim of developing responsible, fair and profitable trade of apiculture products. In 2008 GH won the SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development) Award. GH promotes the harvest of high quality, high value honey and bee products. The Company organises the collection, processing and export of these products and conducts market research and outreach to strengthen the apiculture sector in Cameroon. GH is now an exporter of honey to TFP in Wales in the EU (Cameroon’s Residue Monitoring Plan was accepted through EU Directive Guidelines in October 2009), and intends to upscale operations significantly over the next few years.
In our trials, about 98% of the honey in the starting material was extracted by a combination of this tank and a draining table, as well as producing good quality, clean beeswax. The honey from the tank was on average heated to about 60°C which caused the HMF to rise to around 10 mg/kg compared to the drained honey which had an HMF of less than 5 mg/kg. Therefore the honey from the tank is not ideal for export, because the export process will further increase the HMF. However it is fine for sale as long as it is not reheated or stored for long periods, as it easily meets standards for HMF content such as the Codex Alimentarius honey standard maximum which is 40 mg/kg.
HMF stands for hydroxymethylfurfural, a compound formed when sugars are heated. The level of HMF in honey is used as an indicator of how much the honey has been heated. HMF levels also increase slowly during storage of honey. Fresh honey will have a low level of HMF, for example 5 mg/kg.
The third phase of the Project is to manufacture, ship and install the settling tanks in Cameroon. GH is currently building a new warehouse in the port of Douala which will house the new equipment.
HMF is not poisonous - other food products containing heated sugars such as jams and sweets will have HMF levels more than 100 times that found in honey.
We thank the Welsh Assembly Government Wales for Africa Grant Scheme for their support of this Project
LOOK AHEAD
ARGENTINA APIMONDIA: 42nd International Apicultural Congress 21-25 September 2011, Buenos Aires Further details see page 16 INDIA Nagaland Honey Fest 23-27 November 2010, Dimapur Further details apimail@rediffmail.com MALAYSIA 11th Asian Apicultural Association Conference 2012 Details when available MEXICO ICPBR Pollination Symposium 27-20 June 2011 Cholula (Puebla) Further details www.uoguelph.ca/icpbr THAILAND 3rd International Beekeeping Congress 3-5 March 2011, Chiang Mai Further details www.cenfoundindia.org.in Global Conference on Entomology 5-9 March 2011, Chiang Mai Further details www.entomology2011.com UK BBKA Spring Convention 15-17 April 2011, Stoneleigh Park near Coventry Further details www.britishbee.org.uk UKRAINE APIMONDIA: 43rd International Apicultural Congress September 2013, Kiev Further details www.apimondia2013.org.ua
David, Michael and Rebecca with beeswax rendered from the wood-fired tank
LEARN AHEAD
Bees for Development Sustainable Beekeeping Course
Ragman’s Lane Farm, Gloucestershire, UK, 7-8 May 2011 and 1-2 October 2011
Bf D Beekeepers' Safaris
Trinidad & Tobago, 7-17 February 2011 Rodrigues and Mauritius, 13-24 November 2011 (dates to be confirmed)
Further details for both events on our website
If you want notice of your conference, workshop or meeting to be included here and on our website send details to Bees for Development, address on page 16 5
