Beekeepers have begun collecting signatures and have written a letter to the Minister of Agriculture urging him to convince the European Council to raise the upper limit for contamination found in honey.
The letter was signed by 2000 people. Public announcement

Hungary cannot deviate from the EU regulation which prescribes the ingredients of honey. These obligations apply to all 27 members states said Mr. Endre Kardeván, director of food security at the Ministry of Rural Development, responding to the beekeepers’ petition. As it is widely known the minister of rural development ordered a national full-scale control of honey on 16 December. The order was given because honey of unknown origin contaminated with antibiotics appeared on the domestic markets.

Experts from the Central Agriculture Office (MgSzH) have been conducting continuously tests at the different distributors of honey and the different packaging companies. During the tests residues of unlawful antibiotics were found in the controlled products in excessive amount. The questionable honey products will be revoked and the distributers and producers will be fined.

The applied technical analytical test methods for honey have been perfected in the past years. With today’s technology 1/20th of the quantity can be detected compared to the previous tests. Therefore honey products approved without any problem a few years ago can also be questionable. Obviously this issue has to be handled with special care since it concerns health and food security issues. That is, it cannot be treated exclusively by government regulations. The significant part of European honey products is produced by Hungarian bees; therefore it is particularly important to preserve the good quality of Hungarian honey.

(Ministry of Rural Development, Press Office)