B-QUAL

B-QUAL

Under Australian Federal and State regulations, all food businesses including primary producers have a legal obligation to produce food that is safe and suitable for human consumption.

The B-QUAL system is a versatile program which includes Codex HACCP Principles. It can be implemented as a full food safety system for honey packers or an Approved Supplier program for supply of honey to packers.

The B-QUAL program is owned by the Australian beekeepers. The industry provided resources to develop the program and with the assistance of AQIS, has resulted in the highest set of practical standards available to the industry in Australia. B-QUAL has become the largest food safety program for the Australian honey bee industry and is now the preferred food safety system within the industry. It has also proven to be the most economical program in terms of achieving and maintaining full third-party certification by AUS-QUAL PTY LTD which is a JAS-ANZ (Joint Accreditation Systems of Australia and New Zealand) accredited Certification Body.

The program also includes Biosecurity procedures which play a big role in AFB & EFB control and eradication. An Environmental component is also being developed which will enable beekeepers to demonstrate sustainability in environmental management practices.

Both domestic and international retailers are increasingly demanding their suppliers to provide evidence that products meet food safety, quality and regulatory requirements flowing right back to the origin and/or source of the product(s).
Honey packers are beginning to take up this challenge by requiring their suppliers to implement food safety based programs in order to meet their customer's requirements and thereby maintain access to domestic and export markets, and also to demonstrate products meet legislative requirements.

The B-Qual program encompasses:
•    Hive management (identification, location, movement and disease status)
•    Extraction
•    Hygiene (personal, machinery maintenance & sanitation, vermin control)
•    Purchases (inventory lists, stocktake activities)
•    Equipment calibration
•    Internal and external audit results
•    Staff training register
•    Occupational Health & Safety issues.
•    Environmental Management (soon to be released)

The program provides comprehensive work instructions and records that are required to be maintained for each of these sections.

Please follow the below link to access the AUS-QUAL Application Forms;