The standards for organic honey production are much different than those for producing other organic livestock products. Managing honey bees is very difficult and hence the general rules applicable for other livestock cannot be implemented in case of organic honey production.
The National Standard of Canada, Government of Canada has provided standards for organic honey production in their document Organic Production Systems General Principles and Management Standards. The North London Beekeeping Association has also summarized the organic honey standards widely used in the UK in one of its information sheets. The commonly used organic honey production guidelines have been given below (please note that the guidelines and the numbers given below are indicative):
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Location of Organic Apiary: An organic apiary should be placed on a piece of land that is maintained organically. The nectar, honeydew or pollen used by the honey bees should come from organic sources. Normally a honey bee can travel upto 3 km for gathering honey. Hence the chemical farms in the vicinity should be located outside a distance of about 3 km.
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Organic Bee Hives: The bee hives used for organic apiculture should be made of natural timber or metal. Treated timber cannot be used for making the hives. Further non-lead based paints should be used, and if plastics are used they should be covered with bee wax.
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Transition Period: Like organic milk production, there is a transition period involved when a farmer shifts from conventional honey production to organic honey production. This transition period is about 12 months. Non organic wax should be replaced with organic wax during the transition period.
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Origin of Honey Bees: The replaced or introduced honey bees can come from organic as well as non organic apiaries. The apiary where new honey bees have been introduced can be included in organic honey production only after a period of about 60 days, after ensuring that the replacement of bees and management of the apiary has been carried out using organic means.
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Feed for Organic Honey Bees: In organic apiculture, the honey bee hives should not be placed in or near farms where chemical farming is practiced. Also artificial feeding can be carried out; however, only when it is difficult to provide access to organic foraging to the bees. When non organic feed is used, the apiary should be removed from organic honey production, depending on the duration of artificial feeding.
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Queen Honey Bees: The queen honey bees can be replaced whenever required. A healthy queen should be selected for replacement to ensure preventive disease management. Sometimes artificial insemination is permitted. Cutting of wings of the queen honey bee is not permitted.
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Organic Honey Disease Control: Stress should be laid on using preventive methods of disease control such as selecting healthy queen honey bees and replacement bees. Further, antibiotics cannot be used for treating diseases. Whenever antibiotics are used, the apiary should be isolated and kept out of organic honey production for at least a year.
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Organic Honey Extraction: A live brood cannot be used for extracting honey from a brood comb. The surfaces that come in contact with the honey should be made of food-grade material or should be coated with beewax.
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Organic Honey Processing: Organic honey should not be heated above 35 degree Celsius. Gravitational settling and filtration should be used for removing extraneous solids.
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Organic Honey Labeling: Every apiary should be properly managed and records of the apiary should be maintained. One should be able to trace the honey stored in an organic honey jar to the apiary it has been obtained from.
Further Reading:
Key Standards for Organic Honey Production,
Organic Honey Standards - An example from Quality Assurance International,
CNG's Certification Standards for Honey,
Organic Honey Standards - Canada,
Draft Amendment to Requirements Concerning Bee Feeding = CAAQ Standards
