Botched up with honey

“This is very painful for honest beekeepers”

The finest honey or adulterated sugar water? The Salzburg beekeepers are now appealing to people to buy at home if possible.

(Bild: Gerhard Schiel)

After the scandal with adulterated honey in local supermarkets, Salzburg's beekeepers' cooperative is trying to calm things down. Quality has its price. Samples also go through their own laboratory.

Master beekeeper Thomas Renner from the Salzburg Beekeepers' Cooperative has already experienced a lot: he has been on the road in companies all over the world. Attempts to pan honey are old. In China, there was even an attempt to mix bees' DNA into sugar water in order to circumvent controls. "Adulterated honey is cheating the customer. A very painful issue for honest beekeepers," says Renner, condemning the tricks that have just been uncovered to dilute honey with sugar syrup and produce it more cheaply.

Salzburg association has been fighting against artificial honey for a long time
The Salzburg Association has been involved in honey scandals since it was founded in 1936. "The founding idea back then was to get artificial honey off the shelves," explains Renner. Today, beekeepers have to make tight budgets. The Salzburg beekeepers' cooperative currently generates a turnover of around 1.5 million euros. However, traditional honey as the core product only accounts for around 150,000 euros. The rest is made up of additional products such as candles made from beeswax or propolis, which are particularly popular in winter.

Regular checks are carried out in the laboratory in Koppl.

(Bild: Landesverband der Salzburger Imker)

More and more beekeepers are giving up production
Many full-time beekeepers have recently given up. There are only eight left in Salzburg. The rest of the 2800 bee experts work part-time. "There is hardly any room for maneuver when calculating," says Renner. In Salzburg, the average yield per bee colony is 15 kilos. And beekeeping is a lot of work. Renner: "At an hourly wage of 12 euros, a kilo would cost 28 euros." The price is also lower for high-quality honey.

Quality control works. "Our members are required to carry out tests in our laboratory in Koppl," says Renner. More than 1000 honey samples are tested for enzyme activity and other factors every year. Alarm signal: "If enzymes are missing, syrup has probably been added."

There are currently enough local honey reserves in Salzburg.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Enough honey reserves available in Salzburg
The general appeal: avoid imported goods and rely on honey from your own region!

In winter, the bees rest by hanging in a cluster in the hive and keeping each other warm. Renner: "We only take enough honey from them so that they can overwinter well." There are currently enough local honey reserves in Salzburg.