A beekeeper who has produced honey for the royal family has been fined after he admitted giving a banned drug to his bees.
Murray McGregor, the owner of Denrosa Apiaries in Blairgowrie, administered “unauthorised veterinary medicinal products” following a Europe-wide outbreak of the Foulbrood disease.
The unprecedented scale of the spread of the disease found veterinarians and the Scottish Government unprepared.
And Perth Sheriff Court heard that led McGregor, 61, to take “foolhardy” steps to cure and protect his £3,000 hives.
Faced with an indeterminate wait for supplies of an approved medication, he instead turned to the internet and imported a similar substance from the USA.
However, it was neither approved by the Scottish Government nor properly tested by authorities in Scotland.
His use of the banned substance was discovered during testing of his bees, prompting a full investigation of his activities.
The court was told the substance – though unauthorised – had been properly used and posed no threat to human health.
McGregor has been keeping bees since 1973 and currently runs Scotland’s largest bee farm, though he has hives both north and south of the border.
In the past he has produced honey for both the Balmoral Estate and Prince Charles’ Duchy Estate.
McGregor admitted importing the unauthorised medicinal product, Terramycin 100MR, between July 2009 and October 2010.
He also admitted giving the product to an animal, namely the honey bee, in contravention of the relevant regulations and possessing the substance without authorisation.
He was fined £2,500.
