The growing number of honey bee colonies and beekeepers in Canada has led to a great diversity of beekeeping practices. All beekeeping operations, however, need to implement consistent management measures for the control of diseases. The objective of this study was to document the actual disease management practices of beekeeping productions in southwestern Quebec, Canada. A survey was conducted to describe management practices used by 15 beekeepers who own 1824 colonies in that area. Data were obtained by telephone interviews. When infectious diseases were suspected, beekeepers generally avoided using potentially toxic acaricides and chemical treatments associated with antimicrobial resistance and instead used preventive, physical or management methods, although laboratory diagnosis was rarely used. This study highlights the wide variety of operation sizes, activities, and disease management strategies among beekeepers in southwestern Quebec. It identifies the need to encourage the use of services available to them and to propose a standardized preventive medical approach for field veterinarians to avoid the spread of infectious diseases.

The present study was carried out to investigate the possibility of using different levels of bee pollen and apigenin extract in beef meatballs to evaluate shelf-life, nutritional and quality properties of beef meatballs under different storage conditions. It was determined, using the HPLC method, that bee pollen contains a high level of apigenin under optimal conditions. Bee pollen and apigenin were added to meatballs at different concentrations in five groups. Meatballs were made with control, 1-2% bee pollens/apigenin. Quality and safety evaluation of meatballs were determined by sensory, physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological tests. The analyses were conducted at 1st, 3rd, 7th and 14th days of interval. A statistically significant decrease was found in FFA, POV and TBARS levels of meatballs on different days of storage (p<0.05). When compared to the control group, the bioactive compounds preserved the microbiological and chemical properties of meatballs during frozen storage (14 days).It was concluded that the extracts with 2% bee pollen concentrations can be used as biopreservative agents for meat and meat products.