Scot Mc Pherson wrote:

> That's not true. The cheap honey in the supermarket often contains honey
> as only as a primary and often even secondary ingredient. Honey will
> oxidize some minor components in the sun, however that's a process that
> takes months, maybe weeks if it really is in the direct sun. 

HMF is what I was talking about. HMF, hydroxymethylfurfural, is a good 
indicator of the quality of the honey and if it still has all the 
enzymes that are essential if you want the "real thing". They are not 
minor components but are the difference between what we beekeepers know 
as honey, compared to a colored, flavored, supersaturated sugar 
solution. The EU, by setting HMF standards, recognizes this.

HMF is temperature and time dependent. At about 120F honey will no 
longer meet the EU spec in about 3-5 days. Above 120F and the time gets 
down to a day or so. Since my roadside stand was in Texas in August, it 
would be unacceptable for bees or human consumption in the EU in days.

HMF is harmful to bees. There are some who say it is also harmful to 
humans, but I have seen no science to back that up.

There is good science to show honey with HMF is bad for bees.

"A study in Germany (Jachimowicz and Sherbiny, 1975) found that the 
concentration of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in sugar syrups is indeed 
the factor that influences bee mortality. They found that HMF levels 
below 3 mg/100 g of syrup did not kill bees. However, HMF levels of 15 
mg/100 g of syrup, which is common in commercially available acid 
hydrolyzed invert sugars, causes significantly increased mortality. 
Mortality was the result of gut ulceration. Expanding on this work in a 
personal interview, Dr. W. Kalt, Food Plant Biochemist (Agriculture and 
Agri-Food Canada, Kentville, NS) explained that HMF is a by-product of 
the acid hydrolysis process which splits the sucrose molecule into the 
simple sugars, fructose and dextrose. In contrast, the enzyme hydrolysis 
process reshapes the molecule so the split does not result in the 
formation of HMF."

This is from
http://www.wildwoodlabs.com/viewer.php?article_id=52

but you can find similar studies on the Internet.

You can also find it in real life. This happened in the US when some 
commercial beekeepers fed acid hydrolyzed HFCS to bees for 
overwintering. The bees died. Enzyme produced HFCS is just fine for 
bees. (Lots on this in the archives.)

The 15 mg/100 g (150 mg/kg) of syrup concentration of the study is much 
higher than EU standards which I believe is 40 mg/kg HMF. The study has 
the bottom limit at 30 mg/kg so the EU limit is actually higher than the 
study, but that may be from research they did at 40mg/kg and they did 
not find harm.

There was also some concern by Southern California beekeepers with high 
HMF in their honey which sits out in the sun over long periods. They did 
not like the EU HMF limits because their honey had higher HMF 
concentrations by being in the hot sun. They were trying to set 
standards for HMF and it appears they gave up. So it is not academic but 
real.

So it matters little if the honey is organic or from other sources when 
HMF is involved. Which was my point.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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