Standards Development

Scope

This standard sets out the terms and definitions, the requirements of quality, test methods, storage and transportation conditions, as well as packing mark. This standard applies to pine honey.

The purpose of this standard is to determine the required features of pine honey that are described in this standard to sustain the accordance with the technique in a hygienic manner in the stages of production, preparation, processing, preservation, storage, import, export, transportation, and marketing.

Purpose

In Türkiye ,the M.hellenica grows naturally in P.brutia and partly in P.pinea forests in Mula,Çanakkale, zmir,Balkesir,Manisa,Aydn and Antalya. Pinus brutia is a type of pine that is unique to the Eastern Mediterranean Basin from the Pinaceae and can grow up to 25 meters in suitable growing environments. It is a typical light tree of the Mediterranean climate extremely resistant to drought conditions,which grows in different soil conditions and can be grown very successfully,is the most important fast-growing tree species in Türkiye. Pinus brutia, where pine honey is produced in our country, covers an area of 115,000 hectares.

Pine Honey is one of the honeydew honeys. The secretion of Marchalina hellenica living on Pinus brutia or Pinus pinea is collected by honeybees. After that, it is modified with specific enzymes of honeybees and stored in honeycomb for maturation. Thus, pine honey is produced by honeybees. M. hellenica does not have a negative effect on the pine trees.

17-23% of the honey produced in Türkiye is pine honey and this constitutes 92% of the pine honey produced in the world. Pine honey produced in Mula province provide approximately 70-75% of the total production. Honey is produced with an average of 3-4 million bee colonies every year in an area of 80,000 hectares located only in Mula. Pine honey can be produced for 9 months per year in Türkiye. Our total pine honey production is around 35-40 thousand tons annually.

Pine honey constitutes almost all of the honey exported in our country. There is an unlimited export demand for pine honey.Honey cannot be exported in years when sufficient pine honey cannot be produced. This situation causes problems in honey supply in the domestic market.

The most important feature that distinguishes pine honey from other types of honey is that it is a secretory honey. The material that makes up the raw material of honey is not a flower nectar, but the secretion of an insect. The most striking point in the formation of pine honey, in addition to the nutritional value of the sap from the pine tree, is the secretion produced by the M. hellenica by mixing it with its own enzymes and proteins. Later, this secretion is processed by the bees, resulting in an extremely rich honey. All this food chain relationship makes pine honey different and special.