Honey is a natural product with a diverse composition affected by many factors such as the botanical and geographical origin, the climatic conditions, the beekeepers’ manipulations, the handling, conditions of storage and most importantly, the species of bees that produced them.
Current definition of honey adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) does not recognize honey produced by the stingless bee honey in their provisions.
In this seminar, Dr Zawawi will talk about the unique physicochemical properties and safety issues related to stingless bee honey to express the need for a national and global standardisation.
Dr Norhasnida Zawawi
Dr Norhasnida Zawawi is a food biochemist from Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Dr Zawawi is currently working with other experts in the Sub-committee for Developing Stingless Bee Honey Standard under Australian Native Bees Association (ANBA) and also in the Working Group for Stingless Bee Honey Standard under Standards Malaysia aiming towards a recognised food standard for stingless bee honey both nationally and internationally.
Her studies currently involves on investigating the physicochemical properties and natural toxicants in the honey produced by the species Tetragonula carbonaria and Tetragonula hockingsi in Australia; Heterotrigona itama and Geneotrigona thoracica in Malaysia.
About Science Seminars
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation hosts science seminars across the disciplines of animal, horticulture, crop, food and nutritional sciences.
With a range of speakers from Australia and abroad, the series explores how high-impact science will significantly improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the tropical and sub-tropical food, fibre and agribusiness sectors.
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The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation is a research institute at The University of Queensland supported by the Queensland Government via the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.