I’m following this discussion with interest. The issue of infectivity of stored pollen and honey has come up here in Newfoundland in the context of concern on the part of some beekeeping association members over importation of beeswax for craft-making (no apparent apicultural application). Currently, importation of live bees (including nucs, packages, queens, eggs, and semen) and used beekeeping equipment is restricted by government regulation in order to protect our status as free of Varroa, tracheal mites, wax moths, SHB and other pathogens, pests, and diseases.  With respect to viruses, DWV and BQCV are endemic, and we have evidence of SBV in recent testing. We appear not to have KBV and IAPV.  DWV-B, SPV, CBPV, ABPV, LSV, and CWS have not been tested for.

It has been a challenge  trying to find credible guidance from internet sources to facilitate any kind of risk assessment concerning beewax importation. I suppose the Biosecurity New Zealand import risk analysis: honey bee products (referenced in a previous post), and the 2011 paper by F. Mutinelli on the “spread of pathogens through trade in honey bees and their products” (http://nlbeekeeping.ca/data/documents/mutinelli2011.pdf) provide some guidance, but many questions remain about the beeswax that would be imported here (pathogen loads if any, provenance, method of preparation, means by which managed and unmanaged bee species could have contact with it, etc.).  I prefer to consult the peer reviewed science on such matters rather than rely on that black box of opaque cognition known as “professional judgment.” 

I note that on 17 May 2016 the Bee Industry Council of Western Australia wrote to the Government of Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to convey their concerns regarding proposed changes to bee product import regulations.   Their focus was on unpasteurized honey and honeycomb.

“To allow entry for bee products with only a condition of pure and free from extraneous matter opens our industry to many pests and diseases and viruses that we are currently free from. Honey needs to be pasteurised to ensure that any spores from diseases like European Foul Brood are removed. Honeycomb is honey in its rawest form and therefore carries great risks to our industry.”

http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/biosecurity/new-legislation/submission/bee-industry-council-of-wa.pdf

It’s interesting to note furthermore that the arrival of Chalkbrood in Western Australia in ca. April 1998 is attributed to “contaminated pollen robbed by bees from drum imported by health food business in adjacent suburb of Shelley” (see “Endemic Honey Bee Diseases and Pests in Western Australia,” http://nlbeekeeping.ca/data/documents/Endemic-Honey-Bee-diseases-and-pests-in-Western-Australia.pdf) 

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