Your columnist, accompanied by Dr BL Saraswat, the Executive Director of the National Bee Board spent the last week at Bremen in Germany to understand the nuances of ‘honey tests’, and other bee products like Bee Pollen, Propolis, Beeswax and Royal Jelly. The reason is simple and forthright: health authorities all over the world, and especially in the EU are beginning to apply more stringent tests with regard to quality, residue limits, moisture content, country of origin, antibiotics, heavy metals and offer a premium on the ‘organic processes’ in the production of what is now regarded as one of the healthiest and the only ‘natural food’ that forms part of the human diet. That is why tests for honey are far more stringent than for other veterinary products.
The Vast Potential of Indian Honey
This becomes important because with nearly three lakh bee keepers, and a production of 80 to 100 tonnes of honey, India is now a major global producer with vast untapped potential. This is an activity which is ecologically beneficial, helps agricultural production, generates livelihoods and can be undertaken in almost every nook and corner of the country where fruits and flowers grow, and requires meager capital and some basic skill-sets which can be provided both by the government and the NGO sector. Three ministries, viz Agriculture, Rural Development and Micro, Small and Medium enterprises have programmes that fund and support various activities connected to bee –keepers and honey production. Both the National Horticulture Mission and the Horticulture Mission for North east and Himalayan Region support the National Been Board’s endeavour to mainstream bee-keeping, both for pollination support and honey production. The Rural Development Department looks at the vast untapped potential in livelihood generation and sustainable development and the MSME through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and the state level Khadi Boards supports the establishment of honey processing units in the micro, small and medium sector.
Our honey commands a premium in the world market, though of late our honey has faced problems in the EU on three counts: admixture with Chinese honey which is quite inferior (on account of organized admixtures, presence of antibiotics and heavy metals, and lack of traceability. Readers may also recall that over six months ago, the Centre for Science and Environment had carried out a big ‘expose’ on the traces of antibiotic in honey marketed by some of the leading brands in the country. It had also been pointed out that India did not have the necessary protocols, or the infrastructure to test honey which is sold in the market.
Why Bremen
Bremen is home to the worlds first and foremost honey testing laboratory established way back in 1954 by the German Honey Association. It was called the Institute for honey analysis, and its founder Dr Herwarth Duisberge laid down the first protocols for the import of honey to Germany, which was later accepted as the global standard. The current Director, Dr Cord Luellman has added to the spectrum of services to assist producers to conform to the evolving standards. Another institute, Intertek, which specializes as a food testing laboratory and also does honey testing on almost similar lines, is also located in Bremen. Indian exporters send over forty thousand samples to Bremen every year for testing various parameters: residues, antibiotic traces, heavy metal contamination, and such other tests as are mandated by different health authorities of importing nations. Many a time the purpose of the sample is to assess the quality of honey for a particular market to see if it possible to export it to that country. Thus a honey sample may be suitable for US, but not EU as the requirements of health authorities are different. The testing labs also offer advisories on how to take remedial steps to ensure that future samples become compliant with the regulatory norms. In general, it can be said that EU standards are the strictest, followed by US.
A Lab for India?
Therefore the establishment of a World Class Lab for carrying out all these tests in India becomes imperative, especially as the cost of an average test (compliance with all parameters for entry into the EU market) is in the range of Rs 45-50,000/, and it also takes between two to three weeks from the dispatch of the sample in India to the final post copy of the test report. Over the last few years, the National Bee Board, APEDA (Agriculture and Processed Foods export Development Agency), the EIC (Export Inspection Council) and all the bee producers and exporters have been pressing for a lab in India with the twin objective of cutting costs, and time, besides being able to ensure that even the honey marketed and sold in India meets the requisite norms and specifications. A lab in India could cut down the costs by half to say Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per sample, and the tests could be made available within a week. However establishing a lab is easier said than done. A range of instruments and equipments has to be identified, calibrated and installed , test runs have to be conducted, personnel have to be trained and national and global accreditations have to be obtained before the ‘tests’ are accepted by the EU.
Fortunately for India, the FAO and the German Government’s Economic Development Agency have been positive to the idea of supporting India’s endeavour towards the establishment of such a lab in a PPP mode wherein the capital costs are borne by the National Bee Board, but the day to day running costs are borne by a specialized agency which conducts the tests at mutually agreed rates, for the purpose of the Test Lab is not to be a profit centre, but a self sustainable centre of excellence, which helps bee keepers and honey producers to tap the vast potential of honey in both the domestic and global markets.