Elements and Performance Criteria
- Prepare to produce and harvest royal jelly
- Hive is assessed for suitability for production of royal jelly.
- Production of royal jelly is stimulated.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is selected and used.
- Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) hazards associated with working with bees are identified and appropriate action is taken to minimise risks to self and others.
- All equipment used in process of collecting royal jelly is cleaned and sanitised either by heat, alcohol or irradiation according to food safety requirements and enterprise procedures.
- Collect and store royal jelly
- Personal hygiene requirements are met, including washed hands and clean clothing.
- Wax is cut from selected grafted queen larvae cells just above the royal jelly to aid and speed up collection.
- Larvae are carefully removed from cell with a grafting tool so as not to harm or contaminate jelly, and larvae are discarded.
- Royal jelly is removed from each cell.
- Royal jelly is filtered through fine nylon net to remove traces of wax or larvae.
- Harvested royal jelly is placed into appropriate hygienic containers, avoiding excessive exposure to air, and is refrigerated immediately.
- Finalise tasks