Bear in mind the bees have been doing this without our help for a very long time.
President’s Message for February 2012
We have had some warm days this month and the bees have been able to
take cleansing flights. We have been able to check our hives to see
if the bees are still alive and need to be fed or if they have all
disappeared. It seems a lot of beekeepers have had bad luck and a lot
of their bees have disappeared. There is not much we can do this month
but think about beekeeping and get our equipment ready for spring. The queen
will start laying eggs and the bees will start eating more
honey/sugar. Once we start feeding our bees we need to keep on
feeding them. In March the queen will increase laying more eggs and
there will start to be some drones in the hive. We can start to get
excited about working with our bees in March.
- Richard Ellis -
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Sent us the following notice:
Subject: Proposed R70-520 -Standard of Identity and Labeling
Requirements for Honey
There will be a public hearing about the Proposed R70-520 “Standard of Identity and
Labeling Requirements for Honey”. Please follow this link for all
the information.
http://ag.utah.gov/divisions/r
Here is the proposed changes for honey.
R70. Agriculture and Food, Regulatory Services.
R70-520. Standard of Identity and Labeling Requirements for Honey. R70-520-1. Purpose.
The purpose of this rule is to establish a standard of identity and labeling requirements for honey that is produced, packed, repacked, distributed and sold in Utah. Codification of this standard is meant to reduce economic fraud by controlling the pervasive, illegal practices of blending or diluting pure honey with low-cost syrups such as sugar, cane and corn, and representing highly processed honey as raw honey.
R70-520-2. Authority.
This rule is promulgated under the authority of Titles 4-2-2- 1(g), 4-5-8-5, 4-5-6-1b, 4-5-16, 4-5-15(1) and 4-5-20 of the UCA.
R70-520-3. Definitions.
(1) “Honey” means the natural sweet substance produced by honeybees from nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, then deposit, dehydrate, store, and leave in the honeycomb to ripen and mature.
(2) “Blossom Honey” or “Nectar Honey” means honey that comes from the nectar of plants.
(3) “Comb” or “Comb honey” means honey stored by bees in the cells of freshly built broodless combs and sold in sealed whole combs or sections of such combs.
(4) “Pasteurized” means heated to 105°F or above. (5) “Raw honey” means honey:
(a) as it exists in the beehive; or
(b) as obtained, without being pasteurized, by extraction, settling, or straining without the use of rare earth filters.
R70-520-4. Standard of Identification for Honey.
(1) Honey shall meet the following standards:
(a) honey may not be heated or processed to such an extent that its essential composition is changed or its quality is impaired;
(b) chemical or biochemical treatments may not be used to influence honey crystallizations;
(c) honey may not contain more that 20 percent moisture content and for heather honey not more that 23 percent;
(d) honey may be not less that 60 percent fructose and glucose, combined; the ratio of fructose to glucose shall not be greater than 0.9;
(e) honey may not contain oligaosaccharides indicative of invert syrup;
(f) honey, except for honeycomb and cut comb style honey, may not contain more than 0.5g/1000g water insoluble solids.
R70-520-5. Standard of Identification for Blossom Honey.
(1) Blossom honey shall meet the standards for honey in R70- 520-4;
(2) Blossom honey shall not contain more than 5 percent sucrose, except for the following:
(a) alfalfa (Medicago sativa), citrus spp, false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), French Honeysuckle (Hedysarum), Menzies banksias (Banksia menziesii), red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), leatherwood (Eucalyptus lucida), and Eucryphia milligani may contain up to 10 percent sucrose.
(b) lavender (Lavandula spp) and borage (Borago officinalis) may contain up to 15 percent sucrose.
R70-520-6. Food Labeled as Honey or raw honey.
(1) Food meeting the standards set forth in R70-520-4 and R70-520-5 may be designated “honey”.
(a) The food may be labeled as “raw honey” if it additionally meets R70-520-3(5).
(2) Food containing honey plus flavoring, spice or food additive shall be distinguished in the food name from honey by declaration of all of the added ingredients.
(3) Food containing honey which is processed in such a way that materially changes the flavor, color, viscosity or other material characteristics of the honey.
(4) Food containing honey may be designated according to floral or plant source if the honey comes predominately from that particular source and has the organoleptic, physicochemical and microscopic properties corresponding with that origin.
(a) Food designated according to the honey’s floral source plant shall have the common name or the botanical name of the floral source in close proximity on the label to the word “honey”.
(1) The food label may include the word “raw” if it meets R70-520-3(5).
(b) Food meeting the standards set forth in R70-520-4 and R70-520-5, except that the honey is not from nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants which the bees collect, shall be distinguished in the food name from honey by adding the modification “non-floral” in close proximity to the word “honey”.
(5) Honey may be designated according to the following styles:
(a) honey in liquid or crystalline state or a mixture of the two may be designated as “liquid” or “crystalline”;
(b) honey meeting the definition of “comb” or “comb honey”; or
(c) honey containing one or more pieces of comb honey may be designated as “honey with comb” or “chunk honey”.
(d) The designations allowed in this section may have the word “raw” added if the honey meets R70-520-3(5).
(6) Labels shall meet the requirements of Chapter 4-5-15 UCU.
R70-520-7. Misbranded Food.
Food labeled as a honey or raw honey, but not meeting the standard of identification or a labeling requirement in Sections four through six of this rule shall be deemed to be misbranded.
1 R70-520-8. False Food Advertisement.
2 Food advertised as honey or raw honey shall be considered
3 falsely advertised if it does not meet the standard of
4 identification or a labeling requirement in Sections four through
5 six of this rule.
6
7 R70-520-9. Embargo and Destruction of Misbranded Food.
8 When an authorized agent of the department finds or has cause
9 to believe a honey product is misbranded, the agent may follow the
10 tagging, embargo and destruction procedures found in Title 4-5-5
11 UCA.
12
13 KEY: honey
14 Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment:
15 Authorizing, and Implemented or Interpreted Law: 4-2-2-1(g);
I have a question regarding the use of the term “pasteurization”. Is not the statement in this proposal using the term incorrectly? “Pasteurization” when used in the contest of food processing has several possible variations in temperature depending of the food substance and the process used in the manufacture of the food product. The following is a typical definition which has been cited in processing manuals: http://screencast.com/t/2BY8Qytlyt
This can be reviewed at the following web page: http://www.idfa.org/files/249_Pasteurization%20Definition%20and%20Methods.pdf
In accordance with the basic definition: “Pasteurization: A process named after scientist Louis Pasteur which uses the application of heat to destroy human pathogens in foods.”
If you have questions I will be happy to discuss appropriate methods and authorities who can discuss the citation. I may be missing something but the current temperature proposed at 105 degrees F even for honey seems incorrect and too low. I would like to see the data substantiating the low temperature.
Really impressed! Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. It contains truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to more!
Marlin-my concern is what they have changed on this ruling. I still don’t understand about oligaosaccharides.