Honey standards.  I think all conscientious keepers of bees and producers of honey endeavor to keep their honey as clean as they possibly can.  To some these standards require that no chems be used in the apiary at all and if at all possible the forage upon which the bees brouse be chemical free also, including chemical fertilizers that in reality are transformed by the plants into organic substances devoid of the chemical origins. (I know this is tantamount to a flaming statement but it is a biological fact.  Both dung and amonia nitrate is taken up by plants as simple chemical compounds, not complex entities of their origin.)

Anyway, we try to make the product of our bees as attractive to the customer, and ourselves, as possible.  If we contaminate our product with BeeOffHoneyFrame, let's get some samples tested and prove that it's not nice to use BeeOffHoneyFrame and made that fact known.  If I knew for a fact that BeeOffHoneyFrame contaminated my honey, I wouldn't use it.  In fact, I'm making plans to use a modified leaf blower this year to clear my supers of bees.  Will I contaminate with the fumes from the exhaust?  Hope not.  Will look at the leaf blower design to see if the exhaust is directed towards the air intake of the leaf blower.

We all have standards for our product - honey.  Let's hope that all of these standards provide a product that is not injurious to our customers.  If you want to try to adhere to the standards of "organic" more power to you.  Personally, I want a product that has no materials foreign to the honey that exists within the capped cell, including chemical free wax.  Takes time when you get equipment that has been used by other beekeepers and you have to rotate new comb w/ foundation to replace that which "might" be contaminated.  This is especially true when you are limited with the funds you can expend on your hobby, avocation, or vocation.  Let's agree that our methods are different, and may in some cases produce honey that is not devoid of trace elements of contaminants.  As concerned beekeepers we have a responsibility to try to produce the best product possible.  I would like to think that just about all of us are concerned about the quality of our product.

I am now jumping down from my soapbox.  Someone else can stand on it for a while and orate.

Mike in LA

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