Honey, How Do They Make It Organic?

I've had a few members ask me about how honey can be certified organic, given that bees cannot be contained the same way cows are to produce organic milk and chickens are to produce organic eggs. Here's what Capilano Honey has to say about the certifying process:

Like our Natural Honey Range, the certified 340 gram Organic product aims to promote a ‘hive to home’ experience with the honey sourced from certified organic hives in pristine regions of Australia, including West of Bourke, the Channel Country, Brisbane Scenic Rim and the pristine forestry and park regions of [New South Wales].

Interestingly, even the bee’s diets need to be completely organic to maintain certification!

“Our organic honey really reflects the region and land that it comes from, like a good pure wine, honey takes on the flavour and characteristics of seasonal changes, native flora and regional nuances,” Capilano Head Bee, Dr Ben McKee.

Having a Certified Organic honey simply means that certain beekeepers have invested and elected to be part of the certification program, which has auditors verify sites as ‘officially organic’ against a set of tight guidelines. Maintaining Australian Organic Certification is a time consuming and skilled art for bee keepers.

To be officially certified, hives must be made from organic materials and only exposed to organic environments and beekeeping techniques in the preparation of the honey. Sites have to be regularly audited to meet a rigorous checklist of requirements to reach certification, including  not being within a 5 km radius of all normal farms and agricultural land that don’t use organic methods.

The native flora the honey is extracted from, right down to the diet of the bees themselves needs to be balanced and certified organic.

Organic beekeeping is very difficult and takes great skill on the part of the beekeeper to maintain hive strength with only organic measures to protect the colony against natural predators and sickness.