<You have to  be joking! Do you think that honey from hives that have been 
treated with antibiotics is unfit for human consumption? In what parallel 
universe? 

Pete, helllo from the parellel universum of EU.

Here honey is considered as food, and foodstuffs have bees set limits to how 
much forgein substances can be in. MRL = maximmum residue limit for antibiotics 
in honey is in EU zero. 

The consumers here have more power. This far they have been  willing to pay 
more and get food without residues.  No one is seriously stating that this is a 
health issue. Exept maybe  chinese honey with had  seme years back exotic 
residues that could cause an anaflyctic shock in some persons. 

As analyze methods got better this means now almost no possibility of 
antibiotic treatments. Antibiotics are still leagal to use here in Finland, but 
safety means that you can not use the honey for humans from treated hives for a 
long time. Nornally this means you loose one year crop. Tetracyclines were 
suppossed to diasappeare fast but we had cases with residues half year - year 
later.

We had cases about 10 years back with antibiotics found in packed honey. All 
ended up in waste. Now packers demand a written contract from beekeeper that 
they have not used. It they lie and get cought they agree in contact to pay all 
costs.That means that if my  500 kg antibiotic residue honey is mixad at 
packing place to 10 tons of other honey. I pay all lost honey ....

Packers take small sample from all honey coming in and keep that until honey 
is sold and used. 

If beekeepers use antibiotics, they tell about it , honey is tested by their 
expence, if ok packed.

All this means that AFB is treated here by shaking, worst cases burned. From 
about 100 beekeepers that I know who have been treatig for AFB in past 2 years 
only 1 used antibiotics. 

Ari Seppälä
beekeeping advicer
Finland

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