Beware imported beeswax, make sure your beeswax is Australian. Why? Read on…
PICTURE: Our latest harvest of pure Australian beeswax poured into 10kg moulds and cooling down.
It’s not a great state of affairs when a product that may not even be beeswax, formulated in China, can arrive in Australia and be packaged and sold with an Australian flag on it and called ‘Beeswax’.
Sounds crazy right?
But that’s exactly what’s happening.
The latest Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC) newsletter discusses the fact that Australian beekeepers have been asking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to stop these imports of adulterated or contaminated beeswax into Australia, or at least to set up a program to analyse and test the imports. The ACCC have not agreed to this so far, but they did actually follow up one such company selling imported beeswax in Australia,
The company has since been asked to correct the potentially misleading claims including “Removing all references to ‘pure natural beeswax material’ on the product listings; Removing the Australian flag imagery from these listings; and including details of the manufacturing country (China) on these listings.”
This imported beeswax is often paraffin and/or has chemical residues not permitted for use in Australia in the wax.
Why anyone would want to use imported beeswax is beyond us as Australian beeswax is some of the most pure in the world., but it is very easy to be tricked into buying imported ‘beeswax’ when it even has an Australian flag on it. One sign your beeswax might be dodgy is that it is often cheaper. Yes, you get what you pay for…and you might actually be paying for paraffin.
Please support Australian beekeepers by ensuring the beeswax you buy is truly Australian and truly beeswax. That’s exactly what you’ll get from us here at The Beekeeper®.
We are able to supply beautiful Australian beeswax, made by our bees, in 1kg and 10kg blocks. Each harvest varies in colour, scent and texture depending on the season and what our bees have been feeding on.
The beeswax colour our bees produce ranges from a light to darker olive (Manuka beeswax) through to a lovely yellow (Yellow Box) right through to a vivid yellow-orange when our bees have been feeding on native ‘egg and bacon’ bush. It’s always so fun to see each harvest.
