Defining the standards for medical grade honey

Abstract

Honey has been used since ancient times for the treatment of wounds. The discovery of antibiotics made its use less appealing, but the development of antibiotic resistance has again increased the interest in honey for its antibacterial properties. However, attention must be paid to the quality of the honey used for medical application. Honey may contain toxic compounds when plants in honey harvesting areas are treated with herbicides and pesticides or are polluted with industrial heavy metals, antibiotics, or exposed to environmental pollution. Moreover, bacterial contamination of honey with, for example, Clostridium endospores has long been disregarded. Honey directly obtained from the beekeeper or from the store may not therefore be suitable and it may even be dangerous for use or for wound healing, as there is no guarantee that it is safe, or it may not be effective because of inappropriate sterilization methods. Therefore, there is a need for a clear definition of ‘medical grade honey’ (MGH), to guarantee its safety and efficacy for therapeutic uses. Due to the current lack of strict guidelines to achieve standardized MGH formulations, this article poses clear standards and criteria, including those related to the collection, possible contamination, sterilization, production, storage, physicochemical, legal and safety issues to which MGH should adhere to distinguish itself from regular honey. We discuss current honey-based wound care products and whether they adhere to the standards of MGH. The presented guidelines should result in safe MGH formulations that are effective for wound healing.

Keywords:

• honey
• medical grade honey
• definition
• standards
• safety
• wound care

Disclosure statement

RH and NC are employed by Triticum. Triticum is the manufacturer of L-Mesitran. Other authors state no conflict of interest.