It may seem like common sense, and until now it has been as honey was considered an entirely pure product without ingredients, but now the EU is requiring the addition of pollen as an ingredient in honey.
This means products containing honey will have to list in their ingredients ‘honey(contains pollen)’.
Re-labelling honey jars may put some British beekeepers out of business. The expense of re-labelling, as well as for the new expensive tests to prove their honey product does not contain genetically modified pollen, may cause bills higher than beekeepers can pay.
Pollen with more than 0.9 per cent genetically modified product must undergo safety authorisation and labeling.
Expects say, however, that honey produced in Britain will most likely not contain that level of genetically modified pollen.
The new regulation will exist because of small amounts of genetically modified pollen found by a German amateur beekeeper in his honey. He sued he state of Bavaria for damaging his produce with their genetically modified maize crop grown in a plot near his hives.
The buzz among beekeepers is that the new regulation is ridiculous.
“This ruling is a real nuisance. The idea that pollen is an ingredient of honey is nonsense. Pollen is integral to honey,’ said John Howat, secretary of the Bee Farmers’ Associations which represents Britain’s 300 commercial beekeepers.
The regulations are expected to be finalised over the next year.
