India has decided that antibiotics should not be used at any stage of honey production, thereby conforming with the norms of European Union.
The recommendation of the Food Safety and Standards of India (FSSAI) will soon be notified by the Union health ministry which will make mandatory for the producers that honey samples conform to these regulatory measures before they can be declared safe for the consumption.
The government had been working on these standards since last year after it was found that lots, even those sold by top brands, had traces of antibiotics and pesticides in them. The antibiotics are being used by the bee-keeping industry to control diseases in honey bees and to increase the production.
The new standards have been approved by the scientific committee of the experts. Specifying that “should not be any residue of antibiotics in honey”, the FSSAI will also list down antibiotics that should be absent from honey before it is made available for the consumers.
The standards for honey prescribed under Prevention of Food Adulteration rules only specify the maximum limits of heavy metal. So far there are no standards for antibiotics in honey in India. In last few years, there have been reports of antibiotic contamination in honey exported from India and also in honey available in the domestic market. Earlier, the food and feed control authorities of the member states of the EU had also found Indian honey contaminated with prohibited antibiotics like nitrofuran and chloramphenicol, tetracycline and streptomycin.
Experts say even the samples picked up by FSSAI found antibiotic residue in honey. During their recent meeting by the food regulatory board, the joint secretary from the agriculture ministry informed that National Bee Board will make farmers aware about safety and best practices in bee-keeping. FSSAI chairperson K. Chandramouli informed that once the standards are prescribed, the same would be communicated to the agriculture ministry.
Those manufacturers which are found not conforming to the standards and thereby making their product “unsafe” are likely to face imprisonment and severe punishment that may include closing down of manufacturing unit.