On September 18th., the Conference of Presidents of Beekeeping Associations of the Region was held in Slovenia. The goal of the conference was to support the fight for the amendment of EU regulations regarding the labeling of the origin of honey, as well as to present the problem of the appearance of counterfeit honey in the countries of the region.
The conference was attended by Boštjan Noč, president of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia, Željko Vrbos, president of the Croatian Beekeepers’ Association, Damir Barašin, president of the Union of Beekeepers Association of Republic Srpska, Hajrudin Sabić, president of the Association of Beekeepers of the Una-Sana Canton of BiH, MD. Rodoljub Živadinović, president of the Serbian Federation of Beekeeping Organizations, assistant. Dr. Mojca Korošec, Faculty of Biotechnology and Dražen Lušić, Faculty of Medicine Rijeka.
The discussion was about the experiences with adulterated honey in all the mentioned countries, but the emphasis was placed on the main topic of the meeting, which is the request to the European Union to change the regulations and oblige honey packers to state the countries of origin on the packaged honey, and then let the consumers choose what they want to buy. The current situation has been going on for decades, where you only have to write on the jar that it is a mixture of EU and non-EU honey, without specifying the details, so you have honey on the market that is 1% from the EU, and 99%, say, from China, Moldova and the like , and the consumer has NO WAY to find out, although according to all regulations he must know everything about the product he is buying, which he is now denied.
A Declaration was signed that was sent to the authorities in the EU with a request to change that situation. If there is a change in the regulations, it will automatically be applied in Serbia, which is on the way to the EU and will adopt its regulations, and this would also solve our problem of imported honey of dubious origin and quality, which started last year with the initiation of the import of pressure-conditioned honey competent inspections on honey counterfeiters in Serbia.
The President of SPOS presented the situation in Serbia, after an excellent introduction was given by Professor Norberto Garcia, President of the Commission for Beekeeping Economics of the World Beekeeping Federation APIMONDIJA, and President of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia Boštjan Noč.
The president of SPOS especially supported not only this Declaration, which was signed at the end of the conference, but also the idea of the president of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia that it is necessary for Europe to have its own BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION that would advocate for the interests of beekeeping in the European Parliament and other bodies. There would not be such freakish regulations in the EU if there was someone to stand up for the interests of beekeepers, but above all the interests of consumers, who are threatened by such regulations at least as much as beekeepers. As it is, there was only a lobby of honey importers, and of course it lobbied what suits it decades ago, because there was no one to oppose it.
This is another one of the more than high-quality ideas of the president of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia, behind whom there are works that will make the history not only of Slovenian, but also of world beekeeping. We are sure that only he can push this idea to the benefit of the beekeepers of the whole of Europe, because in Apimondia you also have members who are large exporters of honey, and it is difficult to achieve a strong enough influence through Apimondia, but it should deal with other affairs, and we in Europe must to fight for our own better status.
Finally, congratulations to the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia for their hospitality and advanced ideas that represent the beacon of beekeeping today, around which all honest beekeepers gather.
Source: https://spos.info/konferencija-predsednika-pcelarskih-saveza-regiona/
