Essential points of a Good Beekeeping Practice Guide · PDF fileEssential points of a Good Beekeeping Practice Guide Etienne Bruneau ... ontext of the food safety on the EU C Good

Essential points of a Good

Beekeeping Practice Guide

Etienne Bruneau

CARI asbl

APImondia 2009 Montpellier 2

Plan

� Context of the food safety on the EU

� Good beekeeping practice guide

� Specificity of the hive products

� Illustration : the Belgian guide

� Next step, a European guide ?


Context of the food safety

� In the 90’s, food crisis: dioxins, BSE and Food-and-Mouth

� To solve these problems,

� White Paper on Food Safety (2000),

� => new regulatory approach

� Aim: restore confidence of the European public in food safety.

� New approach: "from the farm to the fork"� from hygiene provisions

� to animal health, welfare and phytosanitary requirements.



� EU fixed new rules and create new structures :

� European regulation 178/2002/CE: � General principles and requirements of food law

� Created the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority)

� Established procedures in matter of food safety

� The regulation� The food and feed producers are responsible

� Foodstuffs, animal feed and feed ingredients must be traceable

� Procedures for food emergencies

� …



� EU fixed new rules and create new structures :� Food hygiene policy : simplification of the 17 directives

� Regulation (EC) 852/2004 for all food products� HACCP (art. 5)

� Base of the GMP (art. 7)

� Regulation (EC) 853/2004/CE � Specifications for animal products

� Regulation (EC) 854/2004 � Requirements for veterinary official control for food of animal

origin

� Regulation (EC) 882/2004� Rules of control


Context

� To solve these problems, the EU member states adapt their legislation and create new structures:� National agency: AFFSA (F), AFSCA (B), FSA (UK), BVL

(D)…

� These regulations incorporate the following measures that are important for the beekeepers:� Registration for all producers, processors, packers of animal

food;

� Quality control systems must be based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point);

� GMP for the primary producers (direct selling and work at home with their own products without transformation)

� Equivalency requirement for all imported food.

� Technical requirements…


Food hygiene policy -

general principles

� Avoid contaminations :

� Clean buildings and equipment

� Use of drinking water

� Avoid the intro of diseases

� Take into account the results of analyses

� Use correctly the food complements, veterinary products

� …



general principles

� Registration of important points:

� Food nature and origin

� Veterinary products

� Disease outbreaks in animals

� Analysis results (veterinarian, honey, pollen…)



general principles

� HACCP identifies potential hazards and specifies measures for their control:

� Description and Risk Assessment

� Identification of critical control points

� Procedures for effective monitoring

� HACCP is not mandatory for primary production,

� It is recommended to use a good practice guide

� This guide schould be based on the HACCP process


Good beekeeping

practice guide

� Who is concerned ?

� The large majority of beekeepers = that are regarded as primary producers

� What is concerned ?

� Work at the apiary,

� Transport, harvesting and packaging of honey,

� Storage, direct selling

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Good beekeeping

practice guide

� Must take into account� => Measures on reducing contamination of food,

treatment, biocides, water, air. . .

� => The formalization of efforts to clean facilities and equipment and waste management

� => Items for inclusion in a registry

� => establish the traceability of honey

� One guide by sector


Good beekeeping

practice guide

� Developed by the sector = beekeepers

� Simple and practice with concrete examples

� Based on hazard analysis and on legislation

� Covers: Security + Traceability

� Rules of sampling, analysis and audits

� Made on the basis of international standards


Hive products for hygiene

� Hive products (honey, pollen…) are considered as a livestock and not as a crop

� The beekeeper is a primary producer and sometimes secondary (processing: drying pollen…)

� ≠> or => HACCP

� => Legal compliance � Hygiene

� Veterinary

� Beekeeping…



� The beekeeper is a primary producer and sometimes secondary (processing) � => to carry out a good pratice guide is recommended

but not mandatory

� Possibility to extend this guide� collective honey houses

� mixing honeys

� Condition : the guide must include a HACCP


Hazard category All food Honey and

Royal jelly

(potentially) pathogenic micro-organisms 452

allergens 48

bad or insufficient controls 64 6

biocontaminants 38

biotoxins (other) 12

composition 88 1

food additives 195

foreign bodies 145 1

GMO / novel food 43

heavy metals 211

industrial contaminants 116

microbiological contamination 61

migration 121

mycotoxins 931

not determined / other 99 1

organoleptic aspects 63

packaging defective / incorrect 31 2

parasitic infestation 39

pesticide residues 178

residues of veterinary medicinal products 105 31

total 3132 42


� The type of risk for honey and royal jelly is very different from other food.

�

Alert notification 2008 -EFSA


RAPID ALERT HONEYRAPID ALERT HONEYRAPID ALERT HONEYRAPID ALERT HONEY

14%

2%

2%

2%

5%

74%




Hazard category All food (%) Honey and Pollen

R.j. (%) % ?

(potentially) pathogenic micro-organisms 14 0

allergens 2 0

bad or insufficient controls 2 14

biocontaminants 1 0

biotoxins (other) 0 0

composition 3 2

food additives 6 0

foreign bodies 5 2

GMO / novel food 1 0

heavy metals 7 0

industrial contaminants 4 0

microbiological contamination 2 0

migration 4 0

mycotoxins 30 0

not determined / other 3 2

organoleptic aspects 2 0

packaging defective / incorrect 1 5

parasitic infestation 1 0

pesticide residues 6 0

residues of veterinary medicinal products 3 74


Illustration: the Belgian guide

� At the initiative of:

� the FAB

� the Kon-VIB

� = 90 % of the beekeepers

� Redaction:

� Lequeux R, Bruneau E

� Reybroeck W, Jacobs F

� In French and Dutch

� 78 pages



� The risk assessment� Analysis of all the operations

� Presence of a risk ?

� Frequency, danger, detection of the risk ?

Nothing > 50 => no critical point for honey



� The critical point� Continuous control

� If the value is < => OK

� If the value is > => reaction� Correct the situation

� If it’s impossible => you can’t use the food for alimentary purpose.

� It can cost a lot for the producer (analysis cost)



� The results for honey

� Veterinarian products: 32

� Phytosanitary products: 32

� Humidity: 27

� HMF: 24

� Clostridium botulinum: 20

� Forbidden products: 20



Risk management

� Véterinarian product: origin of the contamination

� Direct:� Bad treatments (substance, dosis, period, formulation…)

� Wax, frames translations, material in contact with honey…

� Mixture of different honeys (without honey control)

� Feeding with contaminated sirup

� Indirect:� Introduction of new pathology (with biological material)

� Lack of prophylaxy


Risk management

� Veterinarian products: implications� Practice the treament with veterinary approved and as

directed.

� Note in the records :� The treatment (date, product…)

� The introduction of biological material (controled)

� The origin of the wax used

� The origin of introduced honeys

� Presence of pathology

� Renewing the wax of the frames

� Maintenance and disinfection of equipment (hives)…


Risk management

� Humidity:

� Risk:

� H > 18 %

� => risk of fermentation if unpasteurized

� => Sale is forbidden if fermented

� Origin:

� Honey in supers too wet (H>18%)

� Air in contact with honey too wet (RH>55%) during a long time


Risk management

� Humidity - Management:

� Control humidity before of the supers uptake

� If <18 %: OK

� If > 18% => wait or drying the supers

� Honey house : air humidity control

� Use of airtight containers


Risk management

� Contaminent - origin:� Direct:

� Hives (paint, plastic…), frames, wax

� Equipment, containers (non-food quality)

� Smoker

� Ambiant air during the transport, in the honey house

� Building not adapted for food work

� Unrespected step forward

� Water quality

� Workers sanitary state

� Indirect:� Environment of the apiary (heavy metal…)


Risk management

� Contamination management:� Direct:

� Use only food quality material (hives, equipment…)

� Protect the supers during the transport,

� Use adapted smoking stuff (dry plants, no resinous…)

� Don’t store chemical products in the honey house

� Adapted building for the work with food

� Respect step forward

� Use only drinking water

� Workers protected and without disease having an impact on food safety…

� Indirect:� Avoid place apiaries in treated or contaminated areas…


Information to be recorded

� Beekeeper

� Apiaries

� Harvest of the super

� Origin of the wax

� Treatments

� Feeding

� Smoker…

� The honey house

� Cleaning of the honey house


Success and difficulties

� Success: official approval of the guide (24/03/2009 - MB

10/04/2009)

� Submitted to all the Begian beekeepers

� Flexible and adapted transposition of the concerned laws

� Difficulties:

� Lack of beekeeping knowledge in public authorities

� Lack of flexibility in laws application to small producers

� Lack of scientific datas on pollen, royal jelly, propolis


A European guide ?

� Agreement of the beekeeping sector at a European level� Information of the interest of a guide

� We have to know the different techniques used

� Adaptation to the different cases of the beekeeping

� Why a European guide ?� Priority recognition by the hygiene official services

(beekeeper keep the choice)

� To avoid the distortion of market

� Possibility to valorise the European honey on common criteria

Thank you for your attention

Documents

Essential points of a Good Beekeeping Practice Guide · PDF fileEssential points of a Good Beekeeping Practice Guide Etienne Bruneau ... ontext of the food safety on the EU C Good