Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition of the University of Tetova, in cooperation with the Associations City of Bees and Honey of Polog, organized IV international competitions for the evaluation of the quality of honey “Tetovo Honey Awards 2022”.
Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Prof. Dr. Xhezair Idrizi stated that such activities for our university as an educational and scientific institution should be supported by the Ministry and the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, also we as educational and scientific institutions should do our work, helping in various scientific research in increasing the yield of products, the quality and safety of food, not only for the honey production. “I think that, in cooperation with the Government, especially with the Ministry of Agriculture, we will necessarily build policies to increase yield, increase quality and food safety in the Republic of North Macedonia, because the minister also said that we are not able to compete with advanced technology, but at least with food products, especially in our certain areas where we can also be producers of organic products, which today are in high demand in the local and international market. We can do this, but we still need cooperation between government policy-making and scientific institutions, and when their interweaving is done, I believe that the results will be much better and much more concrete. I thank the Minister, the Deputy Minister, the Vice-Rector, and Dritan for joining in this activity and I believe that from these meetings, with the union of ideas, we can come up with concrete results”, said the dean of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Prof. Dr. Xhezair Idrizi.
The president of the Association “City of Bees”, Driton Dikena, rather was focused on the technical part of this activity. ” In this activity participated 260 beekeepers from 21 different countries, including the continent of Australia and America. I regret that we did not find methods to respond to beekeepers, especially from African countries and Arab countries, who tried to send samples, to participate in competitions, but the way of sending samples is a bit complicated. What makes me very happy is that this manifestation has already started to be heard by state institutions and we also have support from the Ministry of Agriculture, but we have also technical and infrastructural support, especially from the University of Tetova, more precisely from the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, and I believe that if it were not their support, this event would not have been able to receive the academic title of the event. When I compare the honeys in the first competitions and the honeys in the fourth competitions, there is a tremendous increase in the variety of honey, not only in terms of quality but also in terms of presentation. I will be very happy if 10% of beekeepers continue to work with these standards in their daily life, then we can simply say that our honey meets all international standards regarding the quality of honey”, said among others, the president of the Association “City of Bees”, Driton Dikena.
At this event also was present the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of North Macedonia, Ljupco Nikolovski, who said that this event is one of the largest events in the region, an event that is expected to take on even greater proportions in the coming years.
“Today, in this event, the honey assessors will find it quite difficult to evaluate the quality of the honey, according to color, taste, purity, aroma, and then the laboratory analyzes will follow, and on October 1st, the winners will be announced of prices. I am very pleased, as the work of two organizations, “City of Bees” and “Honey of Polog”, whose main purpose is to promote the honey of North Macedonia, as one of the best qualities”, emphasized the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of North Macedonia, Ljupco Nikolovski.
The international competitions for honey quality “Tetovo Honey Awards” will include the awarding of several prizes, such as: gold medal; silver medal; bronze medal and the “Golden Bee” award.
