hello guys, first time posting. I plan on selling honey and would like to have my honey tested in the lab.
My honey is in West Africa and I would like to sell here in the United States and possibly other places. Beside nutritional label what is honey usually tested for? I was thinking pesticide, micro, authenticity and nutrition testing. Should honey be tested for these things and did I miss anything else? (heavy metal tests for example). Thanks, guys. Val
I guess they might also test for honey, non honey fillers like corn syrup, water, antibiotics, medicines, poisons and that’s all that I can think of.
As you have just one hive do you really need to have it tested at all, I have 17 hives and have local sales without any certificates, I just sell them a sample jar and they are then tasting the quality of raw, unheated and pure honey. My honey sells it self.
Cheers Vlad
I would tend to agree with Peter. With one hive you knocking to be reducing your sales that much by not having it tested. If you are doing a whole lot more hives may be so.
Nevertheless, I had mine tested and I only had one hive just because I wanted to know that’s all just wanted to know. The University of Texas in Austin tested mine and I believe it was maybe $65. It could have been as little as 25. I don’t remember it’s been a few years since I’ve had it done. Which reminds me, I probably need to do it again.
If I can find the link to their testing agency. I’ll get it to you.
They do it as part of their apiary program.
Marty
hello everyone! thanks for your reply.
I attached a picture of the Angolan honey. Yes, this honey is from Angola located in West Africa and made by wild African bees. The color is brownish and looks somewhat similar to New Zealand Manuka honey (one of my favorites). The smell of this honey is smooth and pleasant. Let me tell you that taste is unbelievable too.
Because of the location (Angola) I am hoping this honey will test very low on pesticide, heavy metals and steroids. My hopes are also adulteration will test favorably. One test I requested a quote for is anti-bacterial levels and send in some Manuka honey too for testing (identical tests to my African honey) for A-B comparison to easier determine the street value of Angolan honey. Thanks for Uni of Tx link I will also reach out to them shortly and see how they can help.
May I also ask what is annual honey output of 1 bee hive? The Angolan honey is unprocessed, raw and liquid (forgot to mention in above post)
Out of my flow frames in Dallas Texas, last year I was able to get about 110 to 120 pounds per hive.
Homey production from a hive is a bit like how long is a piece of string. But @Martydallas figure is a fair expectation.What has an effect oh toe amount of honey from a hive is the strength of the colony, local climate conditions over the season, the amount of nectar being produced and the flight distance fron the hive to the nectar source. Even with hives side by side the yield can vary considerably for unknown factors. This past summer I didn’t get the usual rain by a long shot, the trees flowered but the nectar wasn’t in the flowers because of drought conditions.
Cheers
Chances are that if you found the taste of Manuka honey pleasant, what you were tasting was adulterated. They didn’t used to feed it to horses because it tasted pleasant. 
Great for cuts and burns though…
Manuka does have unusual taste but after few times I got used to it. Something interesting happened then… I started feeling better. Like more alert mentally and felt better physically too. Not sure if it was in my head or not but starting to believe in their medicinal properties too.
Go for Jarrah. Much better. And it’s edible 
Thanks Snowflake it is on my list. I just sent a sample of the African honey for pollen analysis. Thank you Marty from Dallas for sharing the link. It will take about 10 business days to get results back from Dr Vaughn and if you guys are cool I’d like to share the findings here.
EDIT: I had a chance to try the Angolan honey today and I have to say it tastes amazing. Very smooth tasting honey for sure I might like it little better then the NZ/AUS competition 
Lol (I have 0 hive). It’s 3 o’clock. I’m over there reading conversation between apiculturists just because I want to know besides glucose and fructose what are the chemical components in honey. How come honey can cause the bacteria botulism? How can I know when a honey is bad? Or great. What are the best honey brands out there in the USA market (since I’m in NY.) Are they presumably good because they get their honey tested and checked for standard quality.
Thanks I’m advance for replying.
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum.
The components in honey are variable (depending on the forage used by the bees) and generally too numerous to count. The main components (other than fructose and glucose) are sucrose and water. There is also a trace of protein from pollen, plus various bee enzymes. Oxalic acid is present in most honey too. There are traces of essential oils and other aromatic compounds too.
The bacteria which cause botulism (Clostridium botulinum) are present everywhere in the environment. The bacterial spores are very resistant to drying out and persist in soil for decades. Some commercial honey is filtered, but the filters are generally too coarse to remove the spores. They can be destroyed by pressure cooking (not pasteurization), but that destroys much of the natural goodness in honey, and changes the taste too. After the age of 1 year old, most humans have developed natural immunity to C. botulinum, so it is absolutely safe to eat for most people with normal immune systems.
That is a very broad question. Did you have something specific in mind? If you mean, how can you tell when it has spores in it, you should assume that all honey does. If you mean how can you tell whether it is a good quality honey, check the label. If it is from the USA or Europe, it has to reach certain quality standards in order to be sold as honey. Be suspicious of cheap Chinese honey - it is often diluted with sugar syrup. Generally “raw” honey has had less processing than commercial honeys in supermarkets and is regarded as superior. The best way to buy raw honey is from a local beekeeper.
The only commercial honey that I buy now is lavender honey, because I love the flavor and I can’t take my own bees to lavender fields. It is very expensive here in the US, so I usually buy it in France, but if you want to try it, this one is good:
https://www.amazon.com/Augier-Ruchers-Mont-Ventoux-Provence/dp/B07F3GRTLX/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=lavender+honey&qid=1610129375&sr=8-13
