Bee products

The hive immune system

Worker bees harvest from buds and exudates of specific plants a resinous, balsamic substance and add waxy and salivary secretions. This mix is called “raw propolis”, produced by Apis mellifera after the removal from the hive by beekeepers without any other intervention.

Propolis is a building material used to adapt the barrier function at the entrance of the hive according to climatic conditions, seal gaps, repair cracks and protects from rays embalm external invaders.

Propolis is a protective support, acting as a cleansing tool at the threshold of the hive and an antiseptic and a bacteriostatic to prevent microbial infections of larvae, honey stores, and the combs and fight against the development of mold or other pathogens in the hive.

Richness and variability

Raw propolis, which is barely soluble in water, cannot be used as a raw material and it must be purified by extraction with solvents to remove the inert material (wax, impurities) and to extract the entire polyphenolic fraction from resin. In food supplements propolis is added in the form of extracts.

More than 300 polyphenols have been identified in propolis. Major components with health properties: flavonoids & phenolic acids such as caffeic, coumaric, ferulic acids, or caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE). The bioactive composition of propolis is variable depending on geographical area, climatic conditions, plants present, seasonality.

Fytexia offers purified green and brown propolis extracts with different polyphenol standardisations, in solid and liquid forms.

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Royal jelly is a product rich in proteins, lipids, group B vitamins and mineral salts. It is food for larvae for the first three days and for the queen bee’s whole life.

Royal jelly is traditionally recognised for its antibacterial, tonic-immunostimulant, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties commonly used in dietary supplements, food and cosmetics.

Among all lipids and fatty acids, 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) is used as an international standard for quality due to its stability.

The lyophilized royal jelly offered by Fytexia maintains all its original compounds and functional activities.

Standardisation: 4% 10-HDA (HPLC)

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Honey is an important energy food for bees. They gather nectar from flowering plants, then they mix it with specific substances and save it inside the beehive. Honey is high in sugars (glucose and fructose mainly), and it is therefore highly energetic and sweetening. Other substances can be found in honey, such as organic acids, minerals, amino acids and proteins. Due to its characteristics, honey is highly digestible and serves as an immediate source of energy.

Thanks to several years of experience in processing bee products, we are able to improve the following physicochemical properties of liquid honey, which often hamper its use: high humidity, which affects stability and application; bad flow and pourability which create fixed costs for maintenance and cleaning process of plant equipment. Fytexia proposes two types of honey powder from European raw material, easy to store and dose during the process. They are of high quality, standardized, free from artificial flavorings, preservatives and colorants.

Our European honey powder is available in conventional and organic versions.

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Collected on the flowers by the worker-bees, bee pollen becomes entomophilic after a re-elaboration (salivary secretions and nectar) and is different from wind-dispersed anemophilic pollen. The pollen is used to complete the diet of larvae and adult bees.

As harvested bee products, the composition of bee pollen depends on the plants, geographical area and seasonality. Rich in proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and oligo elements, pollen is considered as a valuable source of nourishing substances and energy.

Fytexia offers dry and fluid pollen extracts.

Standardisation:
10% Nitrogenous substances (Kjedahl method)
3% Minerals sals (as ashes)

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