What do you mean by the term RAW and NATURAL?

Many commercial honeys are pasteurized by subjecting the honey to excessive heat of up to 75 degrees Celsius. It’s then pushed 3 – 4 times through finer and finer filters under great pressure. This process sterilises the honey and it will stay liquid for much longer. But it can also cause damage to the chemical structure of the honey by increasing the level of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and decreasing enzyme activity, e.g. diastase, and vitamins and minerals. Extreme filtering takes out beepollen and other particulate matter beneficial to our bodily functions.
Byron Bay Honey is only gently warmed within the guidelines governing the processing of RAW honey and then gravity filtered through a mesh without destroying the natural components of the product. You will find beepollen, enzymes, vitamins and minerals as they occur in the beehive. We are retaining all the goodness of honey and are fully compliant with HACCP Food Safety requirements as specified by the World Health Organisation (WHO). All our products carry a B-Safe logo.

What are the negative side effects of pasteurizing honey?

The term pasteurization refers to excessive heat treatment and filtering which can alter the chemical structure of honey. Naturally occuring vitamins, minerals and enzymes are very sensitive to heat and can be easily destroyed. It's one of the remarkable achievements of living bees in a hive: If the beehive heats up in summer about 100 000 beeswings will fan air through the hive to cool it down. They basically maintain a constant temperatur inside to preserve the goodness of their stored honey in the comb and their eggs. We are respecting their natural behaviour and will not overheat our honeys.

How safe is your product for human consumption?

We are fully compliant with strictest food safety standards (HACCP) set by the World Health Organisation. We are getting audited every 12 months to renew our certification and to carry the B-Safe logo on all our products. We are fulfilling all industry standards within Australia. We got our honey tested in a German laboratory (2006) and they found that we are also complying with food safety standards of the European Union, which are the strictest in the world.

Why does your honey crystallize?

Honey which is heat processed will stay liquid for much longer than our raw honey.      Raw and natural honey will usually go candied within 12 - 18 months. This is an indication that the chemical structure of the honey has not been damaged. Once it's crystallised the honey will not change its structure and can be kept indefinitely in the pantry fit for human consumption. It has been reported that they found urns inside the Egyptian pyramides containing honey, which was still 'fresh' and ready for eating after several 1000s of years. Natural, raw honey is possibly a natural food product with the longest shelf-life in the world... If your jar of Byron Bay Honey has crystallized you can liquify it by simply sitting the jar in hot tap water.

 Why do you use P.E.T. Plastic jars?

We are trying to follow ethical and environmentally friendly guidelines in our company where possible: CARING FOR BEES - CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.  We are using packaging from renewal sources, e.g. our cartons are made from 100% recycled fibres. Our P.E.T. jars are fully recyclable (No. 1- ready for your recycling bin). Some people have raised concerns about our use of P.E.T Plastic containers and we have spent a lot of time researching the issue of plastic vs. glass jars. There is no conclusive scientific evidence indicating that recyclable P.E.T. honey jars are bad for our bodies. Most of us are feeling pretty relaxed about brushing our teeth with a plastic toothbrush or having a soft drink or fruit juice from a plastic bottle. Alfalfa- or beansprouts at the health food store are mostly packaged in plastic bags or containers. Lunchboxes for our kids a usually made from plastic as is the wrapper for our Tofu or Tempeh cutlets. It is hard to imagine food packaging without the use of plastic. During critical times of global warming we are also concerned about our carbon footprint: P.E.T. plastic jars weigh only about 20% of glass jars (ca. 30 gramms each). That means we can save about 80% in carbon emissions during transportation by simply choosing plastic rather than heavier glass containers. It would also be interesting to find out how much CO2 is needed to produce a P.E.T. vs Glass jar. Another issue is food safety: Glass jars can splinter or break, plastic jars don't. By weighing up all the different issues here we have decided for the use of 100% recyclable P.E.T containers.