Whenever the question of sugar and feeding comes up, it's as predictable as clockwork that someone will immediately post that ZERO sugar is allowable in honey.

This is, of course, an absurd standard.  Even ignoring the comments already made about limits of detection and the inevitable moving of some stores or scraps of stores into the honey supers, zero is an impossible standard for your bees to meet.  

I say that with confidence because you have no idea where your bees are going.  Bees are opportunists.  Several studies have shown that they prefer nectar based sources but when there is a drought, they will pull in carbohydrates from any source that is available.  At least one of those bees will find the sticky top of a mostly-empty pop can on the side of the road.  Or the spilled sugar packet from someone's morning coffee.  Or rob from your neighbor's bees.  Or find any of the hundreds of other small sugar sources that are available in every human-populated area.

Zero tolerance is an easy and emotionally satisfying answer but it is intellectually dishonest both to our customers and to ourselves to pretend that it is a realistic answer.

My personal standard is "none intentionally added at times when it will be stored in the honey supers in more than trace amounts."

Mike Rossander



      

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