Beekeeping Industry: Include Imported ‘Honeycomb’ in quarantine in South Korea

Published 2024년 12월 19일

Tridge summary

The article highlights a concerning surge in the import of 'honeycomb honey', which has markedly increased to 65 tons from last year's 13 tons, largely driven by its popularity in dessert specialties like yogurt ice cream. This sudden rise has attracted attention from the beekeeping industry, which is advocating for the inclusion of imported honeycomb honey under quarantine regulations to prevent the spread of bee-related diseases. They argue that the current customs clearance processes for food items may inadvertently facilitate the importation of honeycomb honey from sources of uncertain origin, potentially risking public health and the health of bee populations. The Korea Beekeeping Association is collecting opinions on this issue and is set to discuss it with the government, while the government remains cautious and plans to convene an advisory meeting to weigh the industry's concerns.

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Original content

Recently, the import of ‘honeycomb honey’ has been rapidly increasing. The beekeeping industry is raising its voice that imported honeycomb honey should be included in the quarantine target in preparation for possible disease infection. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s Imported Food Information Center, the import volume of imported honeycomb honey was tallied at 65 tons as of the 18th of this year. This is a large increase from last year (13 tons). The beekeeping industry sees the recent increase in dessert specialty stores such as ‘yogurt ice cream’ as the background for the increase in honeycomb honey imports. Some companies provide honeycomb honey as a topping (additional ingredient to decorate food), and as these products have become popular, the import volume has also increased. The problem is that honeycomb honey goes through the same customs clearance procedures as general imported foods. According to the National Institute of Animal ...

Source: Nongmin