It's no secret that manufacturers and exporters of honey do not promote any quality issues about their product. Using various marketing and advertising techniques and words like "Best", "Raw", "Quality", "Natural" they do their best to persuade the consumer , that their product is pure and the best. But why aren't these words subject to objective laboratory tests for each batch of their honey which was poured and packaged in a particular amount of jars? Honey can not be identical in its physical and chemical composition. The therapeutic properties of honey depend precisely on its chemical composition, which is influenced by many factors. To see in more detail, go to Chemical composition.
Why isn't the consumer provided with public information on the product he is being persuaded to buy? Questions like these are discussed by different scientific communities, public organizations, and quality control committees.
Since ancient times, honey has been known for its medicinal properties and as a product of longevity. Honey is mentioned in The New Testament and the Koran and nothing is said there about any particular brand. In the Holy books, discussions on honey are conducted with no presumption of man's harmful interference. In those ancient times manufacturing production of honey, high thermal processing, pesticides, heavy metals, antibiotics and GMO did not exist. Unfortunately for the consumer, quite often honey is delivered not only having lost its unique properties but even hazardous to health. Several serious problems in the production of honey exist.

Unfavorable ecology around apiaries.
1. Heavy metals
Source - Close proximity to cities, manufacturing facilities and highways.
Elements – Lead, Cadmium, Mercury.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.
2. Location of apiaries in close proximity of agricultural areas treated with pesticides.
Source – agricultural fields and fruit gardens treated with pesticides to maximize crop yields and eliminate pests.
Elements – insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and germicides.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.
3. GMO
Source – Location of apiaries in close proximity of agricultural areas with genetically modified crops. (GMO).
Elements – pollen of genetically modified plants.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.

Problems of apiarists.
1. The use of prohibited antibiotics to treat bees.
Result - honey contains antibiotics which are harmful to health (tetracycline, streptomycin, sulfonamide and chloromycetin). The use of other substances by apiarists play an insignificant role.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.
2. The use of sugar syrup instead of nectarous plants.
Result – honey looses its medicinal properties becoming a sugary substance.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.
3. Diluting honey with a foreign substance to increase volume. (falsification).
Result – honey contains substitutes and no longer a wholesome product.
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test.
4. The collection of unripe honey with high moisture content.
Result – Honey begins to ferment. Unripe honey has low therapeutic properties and enzymatic activity. Honey is not ripe if the honeycombs haven't been sealed by bees and this honey has more than 20g water per 100g of honey. When honey is ripening (sealed by bees in honeycombs) the amount of organic acid proteins (enzymes) and minerals increase. During the ripening process and also later on, in the lid-sealed honeycombs, important chemical transformations of honey occurs. These transformations are mainly based on the growth of hexose (fructose and glucose), the process of converting saccharose into new, partly larger polymers of sugar (Oligosaccharides).
Presence in honey – is determined by laboratory test and not only by the levels of water in honey (during production water levels can be lowered using high thermal processing, this way honey looks ripe). Ripeness of honey is also determined by other factors like; Diastase activity - higher diastase activity determines better quality, Invertase - higher invertase also determines better quality. The level of these enzymes will be low if the honey was thermally processed. Acidity and PH - if these indicators are low, honey has better antibacterial properties. These important determining factors are only low in ripe and quality honey. All these indicators are natural and it's impossible to raise or lower them any artificial way. Also, HMF levels indicate if the honey was thermally processed. A lower level of HMF indicates better quality of honey. A natural HMF level is composed of no more than 10 units. In detail Quality standards EU, DIB.

Technological process
1. Filtration of honey.
Evaluation – the natural admixtures (pollen, wax, propolis) were removed to give honey more attractive and clear appearance.
Result – partial loss of biological activity in honey.
2. Thermal processing of honey.
Evaluation – Honey was heated to more than 40°C during the dispensing process.
There are two reasons for the thermal processing of honey:
- Crystallization (granulation)
The problem is that after collection, honey naturally crystallizes (granulates). It is impossible to dispense this honey into jars especially in large volume during the production process, so the manufacturers heat this honey to make it more fluid. The higher the temperature of the honey, the easier it flows through the dispensing equipment. Consequently company production increases and a lower product price is obtained. The manufacturer receives profit and the consumer a cheap product. So where is the medicinal honey celebrated by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, mentioned in the New Testament and the Koran?
- The fermenting process.
The fermenting process occurs because of high moisture content (more than 21%). Ripe honey contains 15% - 21% of water (the optimal number is between 16% and 18%). Heating the honey reduces the amount of moisture and the fermenting process stops. The started fermenting process can be stopped by heating the honey to 63°C for duration of 30min., or to 50°C in an open pan for the duration of 10 to 12 hours.
The natural temperature maintained by bees inside the beehive is between 20°C-40°C. It is possible to maintain physical and chemical properties of honey by one time heating it to no more than 40°C. When honey is heated to more than 40°C considerable loss of enzymes occurs. Enzymes enable the person's organism to effectively metabolize all the other elements in honey.
When honey is heated to 60°C, enzymatic activity is lost and the following are partially or completely destroyed: vitamins, minerals, organic acids, inhibin (which affects antibacterial properties) glucose, proteins, tannines and aromatic compounds (during high temperatures they converted to simple sugars and lost).
Honey which was once thermally processed looses many of its medicinal properties, and when honey is heated to 80°C several dangerous to health carcinogens are emitted.
Bashkir Bee Honey is not subjected to heat over 38 degrees Celsius. In detail Our production

How to determine low grade honey?

Physical and chemical test of honey is a complicated process which requires special equipment. Only reputable and independent international laboratories are able to provide objective data. Since every action that changes the natural properties of honey also has an effect on its chemical markers (Diastase, Invertase, HMF etc.) this event can be determined using modern laboratory equipment. For example, if the results of the laboratory test determine high Diastase activity, then in front of you is a high quality honey, and the level of all other enzymes is also high. This is because of the interdependence and correlation of different elements in honey (when one enzyme level is low, all other chemical markers in honey will also be low).
The presence of heavy metals, pesticides, GMO, thermal processing, falsification etc. is determined by laboratory tests and not dictated by promises of the manufacturer about their absence. To see in detail go to Laboratory tests
No certificates even such as "Bio", "Ecological Product", "Organic", "HACCP", "ISO9001", "DIB", etc. can provide a 100% high quality guarantee. Only an independent laboratory test on a particular batch of honey (the exact honey which is dispensed into a certain number of jars) can give you a 100% guarantee. For example, Bashkir Bee Honey has the certificate "Biological Product" and "HACCP", but these certificates do not oblige us to pick out honey with high physical and chemical attributes, which exceed the world standard. These certificates also do not require us to provide full chemical and physical test results for each particular batch of honey. What makes us strive to be the best is you, our consumer. Particularly for you and your respect and satisfaction we are to be open and honest. That is why, we provide proof to the consumer instead of advertising claims. We do not tell you about the average statistics on chemical attributes of honey or about overall therapeutic properties, but actually prove their presence in every actual batch of Bashkir Bee Honey.
In the section "OUR HONEY" you can review actual chemical composition, the amount of elements, their value and properties proven by international laboratories, for each particular batch of Bashkir Bee Honey (unique code is placed on the lid).