In June, the European Commission opened a call for applications for setting up the expert working group, called the Honey Platform. Out of 33 organisations that applied, only 8 were selected. EBA’s application has been successful, and our representatives, prof. dr. Andreas Thrasyvoulou and dr. Urška Ratajc, have attended the first Honey Platform meeting on 6th of November 2024.
The meeting was in hybrid form, which means that representatives could attend the meeting either in person in Brussels or via video conference. Representatives of Members States’ authorities, laboratories, stakeholders, civil societies and other experts were invited to share their knowledge and points of views on the topics on the agenda. At the first meeting, the discussion was on two important topics: (1) composition criteria for honey to exclude overheated honey and the destruction/deactivation of natural enzymes and (2) gathering data for methods to improve authenticity controls, with a view to possibly harmonising them.
In the weeks before the meeting, the EBA Scientific Committee on Safety and Quality of Bee Products prepared a proposal with answers to the European Commission’s specific questions, which was then adopted and confirmed also by the Executive Board. The proposal was sent to the European Commission and defended at the meeting, which took place beetween 9.30am and 5pm. The discussion of representatives of different entities was lively, but at a high and very professional level. While consensus on some decisions will probably be easily achieved, there is still a lot of work ahead of the working group. Honey Platform members will meet twice a year in the following years and communicate in written format in the meantime. The next meeting is scheduled for 13 May 2025. The EBA representatives will continue to work towards EBA’s main goals and we hope we can soon report on some important decisions and further amendments to the Honey Directive.
Dr. Urška Ratajc,
Food Safety Advisor, Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association
Head of the Scientific Committees, European Beekeeping Association
