As of: February 5, 2024, 6:21 p.m
By: Martin Schullerus
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German honey from the garden city of Gräfelfing: This is how detailed the voluntary provenance information for the regional beekeepers' products is often.
© Martin Schullerus
The new EU honey directive provides for stricter regulations for supermarket honey.
The regional beekeepers who belong to the Gräfelfing and Surroundings Beekeeping Association in Würmtal expressly welcome this - for several reasons.
Würmtal
– The good news from Brussels came at the end of January: the EU Parliament, Council and Commission had agreed on a version of the new honey directive.
The new regulations affect, among other things, the indications of origin of mixed honeys in supermarkets.
Currently, as a provenance statement on honey jars on the shelf, you can find phrases like: “Mixture of honeys from EU and non-EU countries.” A non-statement that gives a deep insight.
“More appreciation”
After a certain transition period, “the different origins, including percentages, must be on the labels,” the German Beekeepers Association now describes the announced new regulations in a press release.
The local beekeepers are not in direct competition with the large honey traders and producers who supply the supermarket chains.
Nevertheless, they see themselves strengthened by the stricter requirements.
“As a result, it simply means more appreciation for regional beekeepers,” says Annette Rosellen, chairwoman of the Gräfelfing and Surrounding Area Beekeepers Association, in an interview with Merkur.
“Consumers are becoming more aware of what they are actually buying.”
Regionally produced honey is generally cheaper, better, more accurately described and more rigorously sampled than mass-produced mixed honey, says Rosellen.
The official label from the German Beekeepers Association, which most people use, has its own identification number for each jar.
Once a year, a lottery is used to decide which beekeepers have to send in honey samples for inspection.
Result: “We are sampled more than the big chains,” says Rosellen.
In the future, there will also be a system for tracing supermarket honey back to the beekeeping facility, as well as an EU honey reference laboratory.
“Then the supermarket honey is brought into line with our standards,” says Annette Rosellen.
That is a win for consumers.
1007 peoples
However, regional beekeepers do not have any sales problems today.
“The demand is there, everyone is getting rid of their honey,” says the chairwoman of the beekeeping association with 186 members – and the number is rising.
Their beekeepers have officially registered 1,007 colonies, and they are hard-working: Annette Rosellen roughly estimates the annual harvest of the Gräfelfing and surrounding area beekeeping association at 25 to 30 tons of honey.
The marketing channels of regional beekeepers depend on the respective production volume.
“If you have up to three colonies, you deliver to friends and colleagues.
Those who have a few more colonies usually offer the honey at markets, Christmas markets and street sales.” And the beekeepers who have over a dozen colonies often work with local bakery or butcher shops.
What Annette Rosellen can promise: “Our honey is genuine and very regional;
Nobody mixes or buys.” The labels often contain narrow provenance information such as “Gräfelfinger Honig”, and you can rely on that.
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Annette Rosellen describes an important advantage of regional honey production in addition to the quality of the natural product with the words: “Honey can be imported, but pollination performance cannot.”