First Nations Australians have prized native stingless bee honey for food and medicine for tens of thousands of years, and now consumers can legally buy it.
Until late last month, beekeepers who sold the rare native honey, which retails for up to $500 per kilogram, were operating in a grey area and did not have the law on their side.
Rich in bioactive ingredients, native stingless bee honey could not legally be defined as honey because it did not meet the definition of honey in the national food standards code.
Native bees form a circular honey comb inside a hive. (ABC Illawarra: Nicole Curby)
Legislative breakthrough
The Australian Native Bee Association Honey Committee has sought legislative change since 2019.
On July 22, it finally gained Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) approval.
“Originally our honey didn’t meet the current standard that was written for honey bee honey. It was more watery, the pH was different,” committee chair Dean Haley said.
“Some people thought that maybe it was even illegal to sell this honey.
Dean Haley chairs the Australian Native Bee Association honey committee. (Supplied: True Blue Bees)
However, Mr Haley said no one had been fined for selling native honey in Australia.
“But we don’t have that problem hanging over us anymore,” he said.
“So that helps with the legality of selling it in shops and exporting it.”
Barriers lifted
The strict new guidelines around its sale and use mean that beekeepers can now safely sell stingless native bee honey.
Consumers can also be confident that it is safe to eat.
Mr Haley said the food standards authority had done a rigorous assessment of it.
Dean Haley wrote a book about Australian native stingless bees’ honey. (Supplied: True Blue Bees)
“They’ve looked at food allergies, they’ve looked at toxicity, food safety, the ability of honey to grow food pathogens, whether that’s a risk to public safety,” he said.
“Having all those boxes ticked really helps producers, and it is really good assurance for the public that we’ve got this beautiful, tasty, safe, wonderful product.”
Mr Haley said the legislative breakthrough would enable native bee honey to take its place as an Australian agricultural primary industry, with huge potential for domestic growth and exports.
“We’re only the fourth country in the world that’s managed to get a food standard for stingless bee honey,” he said.
Mr Haley said Australia was home to 12 of the world’s 600 stingless bee species.
A regular honey bee and stingless bee on a citrus flower. (Supplied: Tobias Smith, University of Queensland)
Very different bees
Native stingless bees are about 4mm long compared to the much larger yellow and black-striped European honey bees, which are 13-15mm long.
Some native species are black with white fur on their faces and sides, while others are black with tiny yellow markings on their backs.
The honey found for sale in supermarkets comes from European honey bees.
Australian and imported European honey bee products are sold in supermarkets. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council said while Australian-produced non-organic honey retailed for around $14/kg, beekeepers received between $4 to $5 per kilogram.
It also said they were competing with cheap imports.
Mr Haley said that in addition to its “amazing flavour” and medicinal properties, there was a reason why native stingless bee honey has remained so expensive.
“You might get 100 litres out of a [European] honey bee hive,” Mr Haley said.
“With our [native] bees, when we put them in boxes, the boxes are about the size of a shoe box and we only get about one litre of honey a year.”
He said it was a small niche product.
“But the good thing about these bees is that they’re all native and they’re also stingless, so you don’t have to worry about the kids or pets,” he said.
“It was always known as a bush medicine and modern science is showing that it’s got similar antibiotic properties to Manuka Honey.”
Mr Haley said another benefit of the native bee was that they were completely unaffected by the deadly pest varroa mite.
Stingless bee honey is darker than honey bee honey. (Supplied: Dr Tobias Smith)
‘Rare’ honey with bioactive sugars
Entomologist and ex-CSIRO research scientist, Tim Heard, said stingless bee honey was a healthier sweetener than any other, with properties that set it apart from European bee honey.
“It’s like comparing truffles to mushrooms,” Dr Heard said.
Native stingless bee honey includes a distinct biologically active sugar called trehalulose.
Dr Tim Heard has worked with native bees for decades. (ABC News: Kerrin Thomas)
“The interesting thing about it is because it’s a rare sugar, our bodies are not tuned to digesting it,” Dr Heard said.
“So, it gives us energy but the way it releases glucose and sugars into the blood is slower than most other sugars so it doesn’t give us a spike.
“It’s healthy, it’s safer to eat, it’s less likely to give us [Type 2] diabetes and it’s healthier for diabetics to consume.”
Honey hard to buy
Dr Heard said native honey was usually sold in small quantities but could retail for between $200-$500/kg.
He said climatic conditions in northern New South Wales and coastal Queensland, where the honey is produced, have not been suitable for honey production in recent years.
Cooler, rainy weather has made it harder for bees to forage for nectar.
A native beehive among plants in an outdoor plant box. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)
“We don’t have any for sale at the moment,” Dr Heard said.
“The hives are surviving but not producing an excess of honey that beekeepers can safely harvest.
“We are hoping for an improvement in conditions, this coming spring and summer.”
The smaller stingless bee is able to get into raspberry flowers further than European Honey Bees (Supplied: Dr Romina Rader)
Food Standards Australia New Zealand CEO, Sandra Cuthbert, said it was appropriate to amend the code to include native bee honey.
“The assessment concluded that consumption of Australian native bee honey at the requested compositional limits does not present a risk to public health if beekeepers apply good hygienic practices,” Dr Cuthbert said.
The FSANZ approval has been welcomed by Sunshine Coast beekeeper Ann Ross, who said it ended uncertainty and validated the market.
Ann Ross has welcomed the food authority’s decision. (Supplied: Steve Flavel, Nativebeehives.com)
“I think there’s massive potential for Australian stingless native bee honey,” she said.
“It’s a beautiful product, which has a light, sweet, tangy flavour as a consumable in the food market.
“It could go as high as the medical food chain.”
Ms Ross said the scarcity and current price point had made it difficult for chefs to add the product to their menus.
“Our prime customers would be people who keep it in the fridge for sore throats or chills,” Ms Ross said.
“It’s definitely a little powerhouse of quality and amazing qualities, which I think now we can move forward and advocate for.”
Native honey drizzled on ice cream. (Supplied: HiveHaven)
Australia is inhabited by around 2,000 species of native bees, many of which have yet to be scientifically named and described.
The Aussie bee website lists dozens of native beekeepers who sell colonies in boxes or logs.
It is not recommended to keep stingless bees outside of their native range in the colder climates of the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, or south of the Hamersley Ranges in Western Australia.
