Beekeepers Get Funding For Food Safety Program

Kelvin Heppner, Portage Online
Wednesday, 01 February 2012

The Canadian Honey Council is receiving $30 thousand from the federal government to implement its HACCP-based food safety program.

"We're using the money to complete the process of our food safety program that was initiatived six or seven years ago by the Honey Council," explains Executive Director Rod Scarlett. "We're in the final stages of this, going through the technical review and creating the documentation for producers."

He says the program gives guidance to producers on how to handle their bees.

"This is focusing on the production level. We're letting producers know where the risks are so in the event that something would occur, we have the opportunity to address it through this program," says Scarlett.

The funding was announced at the Canadian Beekeeping Convention in Winnipeg last week.

In 2010, the total value of honey produced in Canada was $146 million of which $57 million was exported. The value of honey bees to the pollination of crops is estimated at over $2 billion annually. 


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