"The wax blend includes
the following material groups: fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty acid
monesters, diesters, and triesters, and hydrocarbons."

Every one of these components could be obtained from plants.  But, I have my doubts you could make a bees wax substitute that would work from just unmodified plant derived products.  I think the melting point would be too low unless you did some chemical modification to the plant derived products.  Some seem concerned mainly about that hydrocarbon portion fearing it might be petroleum wax.  To me that is the least of the worries from an ingestion standpoint.  Such waxes are indigestible and have been a minor part of human diets for a great many years with no evidence of harm.  When I was a kid it was normal for instance to cover the top of jellies in jars with a layer of petroleum wax (trade named paraffin) to seal out air.  Inevitably upon opening some minor amount of wax was mixed in the jelly.  As a kid I remember even chewing such wax from the top of jelly jars as it had a nice taste.  Some people must still use paraffin for that purpose as I still see it on the grocery store shelf.

What concerns me more are the fatty acids, alcohols and various esters.  As they are listed first by the supplier I assume they are the major ingredients as that is the normal way to list ingredients.  If any part come from cattle we just put honey on the do not consume list for every religion that forbids eating cattle.  If any part comes from hogs the same thing is true, just different religions.  Vegetarians might avoid honey if those components are from any animal source.  If they come from plants I think they are going to be chemically modified to get the melting point up and even if they come from animals some chemical modification could well be needed to get the required physical properties.  Does this mean they contain trans fats?  Even if they are pure plant products how do we deal with the fact that some people have bad allergies to very tiny traces of some plants?  For example peanuts if some of those fat derived products come from peanuts.  Does this product put honey on the do not consume list for everyone who has such food allergies?

I understand that Better Bee probably does not want to disclose a trade secret on exactly what the ingredients are.  They say that all ingredients are FDA approved.  I am sure they are being honest that they are FDA approved.  But, FDA approval does not address any of the religious or allergy issues.  So, the dilemma boils down to do not use the product unless you disclose such use on your honey label and do not allow the product to enter the commercial wax chain.  No one is going to want to disclose it on their label and it likely is impossible to keep it out of the commercial wax chain.  I have no idea how to resolve all these conflicts.  But, it does appear to me that use risks loss of honey markets, a risk I would not take personally without a lot more information that shows acceptability to all the special interest groups.  Actually, I suspect use is perfectly safe to consumers and assume Better Bee has done enough testing to assure that minor amounts in commercial wax does not present a issue for reuse in the various products made from bees wax.  They are not dummies and surely have thought of such issues.  But, at this point we simply do not have enough details for me to risk using the product.  At the listed price it is not going to see wide use anyhow.  The bigger risk is likely a look alike from China that does not have the thoughtful research behind it and might contain really obnoxious stuff like chlorinated waxes or chlorinated fats to get the needed physical properties cheaply.

Dick

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