About BEE SHOP

Honey is among the oldest food products of mankind and beekeeping is deeply rooted in every European culture. Numerous European and national regulations control honey quality. Yet in an environment with increasing pollutants, honey runs high risks of becoming chemically polluted. In addition a broad spectrum of chemicals is used to treat honeybee diseases, further contaminating honey with sometimes highly toxic compounds.

The prime goal of BEE SHOP is to reduce potential sources of honey contamination due to both foraging contaminated nectar and chemotherapy of honeybee diseases. The BEE SHOP is a network of nine leading European honeybee research groups in honey quality, pathology, genetics and behaviour as well as selected beekeeping industries, which all share a common interest in promoting Europe's high honey quality standards.

To reach this goal BEE SHOP focusses on the following topics:

• Disease resistance in various European honeybee races to pests and pathogens to avoid chemotherapy.
• Differences in foraging behaviour and its underlying mechanisms among European honeybees to identify behavioural traits reducing contamination.
• Analysis of antimicrobial properties of plant and bee derived compounds in bee products to evaluate the impact of honey quality on disease prevention.
• Inspections of honey according to the current EC directives on honey quality and organic beekeeping based on the new honey analysis methods.
• Genetic background of disease susceptibility analysed through QTL mapping based on the yet sequenced bee genome to find causative loci.
• Selection of specific target genes through the development of SNPs to establish swiftly resistant but efficient stock.