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Let's give a toast for tropical honey (October 7- Nov 7, 2016)

Cleofas Cervancia

Greetings from Asia! My name is Cleo Cervancia, a Professor from the University of the
Philippines Los Banos and currently the President of Apimondia Regional Commission for Asia. In
2014, our topic was on stingless bees and how to produce and collect honey, pollen and propolis
from stingless bees. Now, we are inviting you once again to join the discussion on tropical honey,
especially the honey produced in Asia. Our aim is to establish honey standard including for wild
honey from giant bees and stingless bees. Quality standards for honey are needed to produce better
quality of honey, safeguard consumers health and gain consumers trust that they are purchasing
quality and safe products, and ensure that honey and the way it is produced meets the legislative
policy, and ethical requirements of importing countries for food safety, consumer protection,
environmental protection, and workers welfare (Partap et al 2012).
Do you believe that not all honey is equal? The plant sources, type of bees and environment are
major factors that explain why not all honeys are not the same. It is for this reason that we need to
harmonize tropical honey standards set by each country to further improve its quality. Moreover,
standards are used for marketing purposes. The consumers have the right to know the quality of the
product they are getting.
As you might know, there are existing standards for honey based on Codex Alimentarius and EU
honey directive. However, the criteria set by EU directives are based on honey produced by
western species of honey bees, Apis mellifera. So this means that according to EU honey directive,
all honey produced by bees that are not Apis mellifera (or the European honey bee) cannot be sold
as honey. Considering the diverse bee species and vegetation in the tropics, it is about time to
establish separate standard for the tropical honey. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan countries, only
China, India and Nepal have developed quality assurance systems for honey. The Philippines has
also crafted standard for honey. The aim of harmonization is to find commonalities, identify the
critical requirements that need to be retained, and provide a common standard for the Asian region.
The following topics will be covered in this discussion:
I.

Introduction : Definition of honey and How honey is produced

II.

Species of honey producing bees

III.

Physico-chemical characteristics of tropical honey

IV.

Proposed standard for tropical honey

V.

Synthesis

We invite you to join the discussion which will run from 7 October to 7 November 2016 to ask
questions and most importantly to share your knowledge !