Download Honey bee products - Import risk analysis (December 2004)

The initial risk analysis on honey bee hive products and used beekeeping equipment, written by a consultant on behalf of MAF Biosecurity Authority (July 2002), was re-written after public consultation, to bring it in line with current procedures and processes. The honey bee genetic material risk analysis of 2003 was used as the template for the re-write, and for consistency the same hazard list was adopted. The original commodity definition was modified by excluding used beekeeping equipment, on the grounds that there was too much uncertainty regarding the risks of disease transmission by that pathway, and to include honey, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom. In this risk analysis, these commodities were considered only in pure form.
Since honey bee pathogens are highly adapted to Apis species, the likelihood of any of the organisms on the hazard list causing unwanted harm to New Zealand native insects is considered to be negligible.
The risk analysis concluded that the risk was non-negligible, and that safeguards were justified, for the following organisms: Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae (the cause of American foulbrood), Melissococcus pluton (the cause of European foulbrood), Braula coeca (the bee louse), Aethina tumida (the small hive beetle), and parasitic mites of the family Varroidae.