Is organic honey really organic?

The problem certification has to solve

Organic certification of a crop works because the grower controls the field. A beekeeper does not control the forage. Colonies routinely fly several kilometres in any direction, across land belonging to other people who farm it as they choose. No certifier can verify what was sprayed across that whole radius.

Schemes handle this by requiring the apiary to be sited so that the predominant forage within a defined radius is organic, wild or otherwise acceptable — and then by regulating the things the beekeeper does control.

What is actually certified

• Siting: distance from intensive agriculture, industry and other defined sources, within a specified forage radius.
• Hive materials and treatments: what the boxes are made of and coated with, and which varroa treatments and medicines are permitted.
• Feeding: whether and when colonies may be fed, and with what.
• Wax: whether foundation must come from certified sources, which matters because wax accumulates residues.
• Records and inspection, as with any certification scheme.

What it does tell you

Something real: the apiaries were sited deliberately rather than opportunistically, the treatments used were restricted, and somebody audited the records. That is worth knowing. It is a narrower claim than most shoppers assume, and the honest version is more useful than the assumed one.