Honey is the best known bee product. Honey bees collect nectar from flowers which they turn into honey by dehydrating it and by adding enzymes.
Residues of products for bee disease control and pesticides are important aspects of the honey research of bees@wur. For beekeepers bees@wur restricts to determination of the botanical origin of the honey.
Honey is generally considered as a high-quality natural product. All sorts of factors in the environment of the bees, however, affect honey quality. This means that honey may contain residues of pesticides as well as toxic plant-produced substances.
Beekeepers use various products to control the varroa mite. These products may leave residues in honey. Bees@wur conducted research into the presence of residues after spring use of these varroa control products. The results of this research can be found in several publications.
In 2006 and 2007 bees@wur has, together with VWA (the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) conducted research into the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in honey. These are plant-produced substances that are toxic to humans. Certain plants from which bees harvest nectar contain PAs and honey from these plants may be harmful. Ragwort has a bad reputation in this respect (see right hand photograph).
Pollen analysis
Pollen analysis of honey (mellisopalynology) can be used to determine the botanical origin of the honey. Bees@wur has the expertise for conducting such studies.