On Immature Honey
- Apimondia strongly opposes immature honey production
- Immature honey production breaches international honey standards by harvesting before natural maturation and brings negative impacts on honest beekeeping, pollination services and food security
- Honey maturation is a bee-driven process involving enzyme activity and water evaporation
- Immature honey risks fermentation, reduces quality, and harms beekeeping industry and consumer trust
- Detecting immature honey fraud requires traceability, audits, and economic analysis beyond just lab tests.
- More info here and here
Moratorium on Genetic Engineering of wild species
- Apimondia officially supports a global moratorium on the genetic engineering of wild species in natural ecosystems (Motion 133)
- This position aligns with Apimondia’s commitment to protect natural pollinator populations crucial for global food security.
- The moratorium, which has since been rejected, aimed to prevent unknown and potentially irreversible impacts on biodiversity, pollinator health, and ecosystem balance.
- Still, Apimondia calls for precautionary approaches prioritising conservation, restoration, and sustainable beekeeping practices over genetic modification.
- More info here.
On Honey Adulteration
- Apimondia, along BeeLife, EPBA and COPA-COGECA, signed a Joint Statement on Honey Adulteration.
- Honey adulteration is a complex global issue lacking a single effective control measure, thus requiring coordinated strategic actions and vulnerability assessments along the supply chain.
- There is a need for unified, clear international legal frameworks and standardised methods for defining honey and detecting fraud
- Effective anti-fraud strategies combine legal regulations, comprehensive traceability systems, robust auditing, economic anomaly detection, and advanced multi-tool analytical testing.
An international task force involving all stakeholders is essential to harmonise rules, map supply chains, identify fraud risks, and implement continuous monitoring and mitigation to protect honey authenticity and consumer trust.
