At the UT were held the international competitions for honey quality “Tetovo Honey Awards”

Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition of the University of Tetova, in cooperation with the Associations City of Bees and Honey of Polog, organized III international competitions for the evaluation of the quality of honey “Tetovo Honey Awards 2021”.

Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Prof. Dr. Xhezair Idrizi, stated that our University and the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition are always supporters of these activities, which are related to the issue of food problems in our country. “It is an activity that goes through several phases: the first phase is related to organoleptic analysis, while the second phase is related to laboratory analysis, which will be done in the laboratories of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition. It should be noted that the evaluation phase of the first phase counts members not only from the country, but also from the international arena. We thank all those who support these activities, because it is about food issues, and recently we have serious food problems. We as a faculty together with the associations try as much as we can to improve the quality of food in our country”-said the Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Prof. Dr. Xhezair Idrizi.

President of the association City of Bees, Driton Dikena is pleased with the fact that such activities have increased the quality of honey and have influenced the education of beekeepers and consumers.

“The goal is to produce quality honey but also to promote it as an added value to develop the rural areas of our countries. The purpose of the competitions is not only for the beekeeper to receive medals, but the purpose of the competitions is also to educate beekeepers in general, to prove the quality of honey. If we make a comparison of participants in the first year and participants in the third year, we will see that beekeepers have already worked to increase the quality, but also to present the product as quality because they are two prisms that must cooperate with each other to succeed in the market. There is a significant improvement, the activity plays a very important role for the education of beekeepers, but also for the education of consumers, to know what honey is and where they should go to get honey “said the president of the association City of Bees, Driton Dikena.

The competition was attended by 350 beekeepers from 22 different countries, not only from the country, but also from the region, Western European countries, the US, and Australia. 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. Organoleptic analysis of honey will be done today, October 23, while laboratory tests will be done in the middle of November and will last about two weeks.