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In Argentina, the leading production region lies in the areas south of Santa Fe, northwest of Buenos Aires, southeast of Córdoba and northeast of La Pampa. It is precisely in that region that Mercofoods has set up its apiaries.

The production is developed in rural areas. We are able to locate the apiaries exactly by using GPS technology and determining its location on a cadastral map, so as to establish in a reliable way the origins of the honey that gets to the consumers.

HONEY WITH INTERNATIONAL QUALITY PROTOCOLS

Characteristics of Mercofoods Honey: Differentiated Honey

The Mercofoods Honey originates in beehives which are set up under the strictest hygiene and quality norms, and made up of wood from cultivated forests (not from native wood), since we look up to preserving our forests’ biodiversity.

"Only standard-size materials and wood from cultivated forests will be used in the beehives (brood chambers, hive bodies and frames). IRAM Standard 114001 may be used as a referent". (From the Mercofoods Protocol, 2.1.1 – Good Handling Proceedings)

The apiaries are located in fields of consociated pastures of alfalfa and clover or in fields where sunflower is grown. Their phytosanitary treatment does not affect the apiary’s bee swarms or the nectar to be extracted by the bees for the production of honey.

Regarding the treatment of beehives, the apiculturists must strictly follow the guidelines set by the Production Section of the Mercofoods Protocol, which defines good practices in the handling of the bee swarms, its feeding, sanitary care, honey harvest, etc. This protocol has been created on the basis of the norms set by U.E.E., F.A.O. and SENASA, and apiculturists endorse it in order to obtain honey of guaranteed quality and traceability

From the apiary to the Mercofoods extraction room:

When harvesting, the apiculturist arranges the hive bodies on pallets with stainless steel trays, and covers them completely with plastic film so as to avoid any kind of contamination during transfer.

A truck comes to the apiary to take away the hive bodies arranged on pallets. Then, a skid loader will load them on the truck to be transported to the extraction room.

At the Mercofoods extraction room:

The hive bodies full of honey, arranged on pallets, arrive in the extraction room and are unloaded on the scale, where the net weight is obtained. Then the loader carries the pallets to Room 1, where the plastic film covers are taken away, and from there they are carried to the actual extraction room, where hygiene conditions are absolute.

In this room the extraction process takes place. It is based on a horizontal decanter (created by Mercofoods), which by means of gravity and over a distance of 6 meters covered by honey through a series of stainless steel machines, allows the personnel to place the honey in the corresponding drums (containers), under optimum quality and hygiene conditions. This process reduces to a minimum the amount of bubbles, which diminishes the quality of the honey. All the drums have a bar code to identify each and to trace the origins of the honey