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Bee Products

The following information is about the Animal Products Act and its application to beekeepers and those trading and processing bee products.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority is responsible for establishing regulatory requirements for the production and processing of bee products and for providing official assurances (export certificates) for bee products.

Bee products that are produced for export and for which official assurances (export certificates) are required to meet importing country requirements must be produced under the requirements of the Animal Products Act 1999. These requirements are detailed below.

Bee products that are produced for domestic consumption only or which are exported to countries for which there are no specific importing country requirements notified under the Animal Products Act 1999 may be produced under the Food Act 1981 requirements. Where exported products produced under this regime are refused entry by an importing country, NZFSA will be unable to intervene under the official assurances programme.

Further information on the Food Act

Biosecurity New Zealand is responsible for providing official assurances (export certificates) for live bees and larvae (not intended as food); and surveillance and control of exotic and unwanted organisms. This includes the provision of Import Health Standards that apply to imported bee products and pest management strategy matters.

Further information about Biosecurity [Biosecurity New Zealand]

Risk Management Programmes (RMPs)

To be eligible for an official assurance (export certificate), secondary processors (i.e. those who extract, process, pack or store bee products) must have an RMP registered in accordance with the Animal Products Act 1999, by 1 July 2006. Secondary processing is deemed to commence once the raw material (pollen, propolis or honeycomb, comb containing queen larvae/royal jelly) arrives at the facility where it will be extracted, dried, or otherwise processed, packed or stored.

RMPs are not required for primary processing of bee products.

Primary processing of bee products includes the following activities:

1. Beehive management including queen rearing for royal jelly production.

2. Collection of honey supers, temporary storage prior to delivery to the extraction facility and transport to the extraction facility.

3. Scraping or other collection of raw propolis including removal from propolis mats, bagging and temporary storage of raw propolis, transport of raw propolis to an extraction facility.

4. Collection of pollen, bagging, holding in a freezer by the beekeeper and transport to a pollen drying/processing facility.

Operators will need to have their RMP completed, evaluated where necessary, and submitted for registration by 1 April 2006 to ensure that their RMP is fully registered by 1 July 2006. Bee products for human or animal consumption produced in premises operating in the absence of an RMP after 1 July 2006 will not be eligible for official assurances.

Information about:

• Animal Products Act

• General Risk Management Programme Information

• Bee Product RMP Frequently Asked Questions

• RMP helpdesk

• Worked Example of Completed RMP Template

• Code of Practice: Processing of Bee Products (Including RMP Templates and Guides)

• Approved Maintenance Compounds (Non-Dairy) Manual [replaces Manual 15 Chemicals]

• Animal Products (Specifications for Products Intended for Human Consumption) Amendment Notice 2009

RMPs fully based on an approved Code of Practice do not require independent evaluation. The Bee Products Code of Practice for Processing of Bee Products has been approved and the requirement for independent evaluation assessments for template RMPs waived as follows.

• Approval for the Code of Practice: Processing of Bee Products

• Waiver of the Requirement to Provide a Copy of an Independent Evaluation Report (Domestic) [PDF 52KB]

Package Labelling & Composition

The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code is the required labelling standard shared by both countries.

• Food Standards Code

An Information Pamphlet to assist bee product packers interpret package labelling requirements.

• Honey Labelling Requirements

Exporting Bee Products

To facilitate the entry of New Zealand honey and bee products into certain markets NZFSA has controls and mechanisms to safeguard assurances for entry into those markets. These controls include:

• Statement for the Transfer of Exports Bee Products (effective 25 January 2009)

• Apiarist and Beekeeper Statement for the Harvest of Honey and other Bee Product for Human Consumption

• Contaminant Requirements for Bee Products for Export

• Overseas Market Access Requirements

• General Requirements for Export

• Official Assurances Programme

• Animal Products (Regulated Control Scheme - Verification of Contaminants in Bee Products for Export) Notice 2009 [PDF]

• Animal Products (Export Verification Requirements) Notice 2009 [PDF: 108K]

- Coversheet

• Export verification programme - Animal Products [PDF: 108K]

• Animal Products (Harvest Statement and Tutin Requirements Export Bee Products) Notice 2009

All exporters of bee products are required to register as an exporter with the NZFSA Approvals Group regardless of the regulatory regime their products are produced under.

Details on Registration as an Exporter (including a list of registered exporters)

Once registered, an exporter can apply for an export certificate, where one is required for the product and country being exported to. Export certificates will only be issued to cover exports of bee products that have met all applicable standards.

If there is no notified requirement for an export certificate for the particular bee product, to the intended country of destination, and exporter/importer enquiry determines that one is required, refer to the Official Assurance Programme Part 18.

Look up the Official Assurance Programme Part 18

All bee products transferred between listed premises are to be accompanied by a supplier statement under the official assurances programme. 

• Bee Products Transfer between Listed Premises - Supplier Statement

European Union (EU) - Honey and Apiculture Products List

Premises processing or storing honey and apiculture products that may be exported to the European Union must be listed with the NZFSA. Honey and apiculture products sourced from premises not on the European Union Honey and Apiculture Products List is ineligible for export to the European Union.

• European Union Honey and Apiculture Products List

To be included on the list, please complete the AP 32 form (link below) and forward it to:

VA - Listings
NZFSA Verification Agency
PO Box 2835
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: VA-Listings@nzfsa.govt.nz

Look up the AP 32 form

Further Information on Exports of Bee Products

AgriQuality are currently performing a verification role in the bee products industry. For further information regarding exports of bee products contact:

Byron Taylor
Apicultural Advisory Officer
AgriQuality Ltd
Private Bag 3080
Hamilton
New Zealand
Phone 64 7 850 2867
Fax 64 7 850 2802
Cell 64 21 918 400
Email: taylorby@agriquality.com

Prevention of Tutin Contamination in Honey

Tutin toxicity in honey results from honey bees gathering honeydew exudate from the sap-sucking insect commonly known as the passion vine hopper, when these vine hoppers have been feeding on the sap of tutu (Coriaria arborea) bushes. Toxic honey is a rare event and is more likely to occur when comb honey is eaten directly from a hive that has been harvesting honeydew from passion vine hoppers feeding on tutu plants.

The Food (Tutin in Honey) Standard 2008 (Effective 25 January 2009) Gazette Notice No.9695 applies to all honey produced, harvested or packed between 1 January and 30 June of any year for sale or export for human consumption.

Tutin Standard Compliance Guide

Extract from the Animal Products Act relating to toxic honey

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) have made an amendment to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code to provide a maximum level of tutin in honey and comb honey (Standard 1.4.1). The maximum level of tutin in honey is 2 milligrams per kilogram and the maximum level of tutin in comb honey is 0.1 milligrams per kilogram, effective from 24 September 2009 (Gazette Notice No.160).

The Minister for Food Safety, under section 11L of the Food Act 1981, issued an amendment to the New Zealand (Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code) Food Standards 2002 on 18 August 2009 which incorporated the FSANZ amendment into New Zealand domestic law.

On 24 September 2009, Part One of the Food (Tutin in Honey) Standard will expire. New Zealand beekeepers who are compliant with Part One of the Food (Tutin in Honey) Standard 2008 do not need to change their current practices to meet the expectations of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (Standard 1.4.1) because the maximum levels have not changed.

Standard 1.4.1 is temporary and expires on 31 March 2011. This will permit time for an assessment of the need for a permanent standard for tutin in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Harvest Declarations

• From 25 January 2009 the requirement for a harvest declaration has been removed from the Human Consumption Specifications. This has been replaced by requirements for statements for products intended for export. See these new requirements above in Exporting Bee Products.

Varroa Mite

Biosecurity New Zealand is responsible for the national pest management strategy.  For further information go to:

• Varroa Mite in Bees [Biosecurity new Zealand]

Pest Management Strategy

Please note that the National Beekeepers Association (NBA) are the management agency for the American Foulbrood Pest Management Strategy.

Travelling Abroad?

Advice for travellers wanting to take gifts of NZ honey abroad.

• Rules about taking New Zealand honey with you

Industry Associations

National Beekeepers Association (NBA)
Pam Edwards
Secretary
Phone: +64 6 362 6301
Fax: +64 6 362 6302
E-mail: secretary@nba.org.nz  
http://www.nba.org.nz/

Federated Farmers Bee Industry Group
Shona Sluys
Policy Advisor
Member freephone: 0800 327 646
E-mail ssluys@fedfarm.org.nz
http://www.fedfarm.org.nz

New Zealand Honey Packers and Exporters Association
Allen McCaw
Chairman
Phone +64 3 417 7198
Fax +64 3 417 4385
E-mail amccaw@clear.net.nz

Contact

nzstandards.query@nzfsa.govt.nz

Updated 19 November 2009