Adulterated beeswax

Problems for bees and the beekeeper

As beekeepers, we want the best for our hives and for our bees, who work incessantly every day to produce products and food for both the hive and the beekeeper.

The activity of the hive can produce several types of very high quality products that can be honey, pollen, propolis, bees, bee venom ... and natural beeswax (both operculum wax and bresca wax). Bresca wax is the lateral wax of the cells. Operculum wax is the sealing wax of honey cells and is much more appreciated since it does not have so many impurities or any chemical residue or treatments carried out in the hive (although it is less elastic than honeycomb wax and gives rise to sheets that break a little more easily).

It is very common for the beekeeper to sell his wax in block to companies from various sectors, including the same beekeeping industry. When a beekeeper sells his natural beeswax in block and buys laminated wax ... Is he actually receiving 100% laminated beeswax, or is it adulterated beeswax?

When we talk about adulterated laminated wax, we refer to natural beeswax mixed in a% with other substances that are natural wax, such as paraffin (derived from petroleum), candelilla, lanolin, vegetable waxes (for example, carnauba wax), animal fats (pig fat or other animals), etc. Keep in mind that the level of adulteration may have different levels: some waxes may be adulterated at 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40% ...

Keep in mind that beeswax is a highly appreciated product that is used in a wide variety of industries, the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry being the main industries that use it. Therefore, the beekeeping industry (which is very intensive in the use of beeswax) have to compete in some ways with other industries to stock up on wax.

The wax printed on Langstroth, Dadant and Layens sheets is indispensable for the daily work of the beekeeper and his hives, since the sheets of stamped wax are used for the bees to form new honeycombs stretching the wax. The problem comes when bees totally or partially reject adulterated laminated wax. This may cause the stamped wax sheets to be exchanged for higher quality ones, as well as decreasing the hive yield to a certain extent both in the breeding and in the production of honey.

When the percentages of adulteration of the wax are very high, bees can reject the wax-stamped sheet and build cells in a parallel plane. It can also be that the bees are uneasy and uncomfortable, and that this stress causes hive swarming situations. The reaction of bees against adulterated wax will be given by the% adulteration of the wax sheet.

It should be said that one of the properties of pure beeswax is that its melting point is between 61-65 ° C. This is an indicative measure, but it cannot be used to detect adulterated waxes, since it does not offer decisive conclusions. For this, we would have to measure the density, the saponification number, the refractive index at high temperatures, the water content, the ester / acid ratio ... From all these values, it has been shown in different studies that it could be differentiated pure beeswax from adulterated wax by means of the hydrocarbon profile determination method (using a technique known as gas chromatography). As we see, all these measures escape us as beekeepers, and we would have to have a specialized laboratory for the analysis of the wax used.

As a final reflection, we will say that the beekeeper (even if he is a beekeeper who has few hives and a lot of honor) can be self-sufficient in the self-supply of natural beeswax sheets if he proceeds to manufacture his own wax in sheets for Dadant measures, Langstroth or Layens.

To do this, you will only need a laminated wax stamper, which you can purchase at a specialized beekeeping shop. Yes, it is an expense, but also a great investment since the wax sheets that are produced will be guaranteed to be 100% natural beeswax.

The other option is that you have a reliable laminated wax supplier. If you find a reliable supplier, then you can easily acquire 100% natural beeswax sheets without any mixing or adulteration. It is important to be able to contact the supplier either by phone, whatsapp or email and ask the question about the quality of the wax used in the stamped wax sheets. This will clarify the doubts we may have and help strengthen a relationship of trust.

Mundoabejas.com team