At 01:33 PM 9/19/97 +0000, Peter Bray wrote:
>This pollen is found in freshly
>drawn comb honey where no stored pollen is in evidence.  We did some
>internal trials some years ago and found levels of  30,000 - 150,000
>pollen grains per 10 grams (from memory).  Extracted honeys have
>around 2-3 times the amount of pollen (grains per 10 grams, not
>volume - an entirely different storey due to the differences in
>individual pollen grain size).
 
There never has been a positive statement about beekeeping that an
exception can not be demonstrated, that's rule number uno in beekeeping
observations. I have not doubts at all that in some areas there are plants
that produce pollen that gets in the nectar that can not be filtered out of
the nectar by the bee. I suspect at least from what I have seen here that
this is an exception and that even then that pollen may or may not play a
positive role in bee nutrition.
 
>Andy is correct that beekeepers can (not always) "contaminate" honey
>with pollen during the extraction process.  Beekeeping management can
>affect this, type of cappings system, use of queen excluders (bees
>tend to store less above the excluder), the use of a permanent feed
>box above the brood nest instead of stripping hives right down etc,
>will all play a part in whether or not "contamination" will occur.
 
Again as I have not visited all honey houses in the world there may be some
that do extract honey without any pollen contamination in the process, this
is good but not the normal situation that I have observed in the hundreds
of honey houses I have been able to visit.
 
On the subject of world trade in Honey and conditions that can materially
effect the market there is something going on right now that has not been
reported.
 
"A large amount (as many as 60 containers) of exported honey from SA to a
European buyer has been found to have unapproved antibiotics in it."
 
Depending on who found what and where the norm is for this kind of honey to
be transhipped to another willing buyer at a low price depressing the total
world honey market. All should be on guard for any unrealistic offers of
honey until this matter is clarified as to the actual extent of the problem
as what is now known has not been verified as is only intended to be a
"heads up" to those interested.
 
ttul, Andy-