These are itinerant beekeepers who are setup just outside of the Fifth Ring Road. The second photograph is of one of the drinking ponds that the beekeepers setup… it was a very hot day today.
Shanshan was concerned about possible contaminants being in the honey, due to the lack of regulation on the industry, and wouldn’t let me make a purchase.
Reblogged this on iLook China and commented:
After I saw this post, curious, I Googled “Chinese Beekeepers” and found this piece ———————————
http://www.newser.com/story/1899/safer-farms-sting-chinese-beekeepers.html —————————–
“Stung by recent scandals over tainted food exports, a small group of Chinese beekeepers is trying to sweeten up local honey production. They’re throwing out standard practices, like using antibiotics (which most beekeepers do in the US) to treat their colonies, and pushing natural options.” ————————– However, if you read the piece, you will see that this is a challenge to these beekeepers that are a model of clean food production in China. Actually, a model anywhere even in the US.
Thanks. This article sums-up the concerns of my wife:
The concern about Chinese honey stems from the use of a toxic antibiotic to fight a
contagious bacterial epidemic that raged through hives across China in 1997. The
outbreak reduced the country’s honey production by two thirds.
The drug, chloramphenicol, has been banned from all food products by the FDA.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/4043733/US-officials-crack-down-on-Chinese-honey-laundering.html
I think the concern so much isn’t in the practices of these beekeepers, but what is still out in the environment that the bees might bring back into the honey.