This article proposes guidelines for quality standards of royal jelly. The proposals are based on two sets of data; the first from our study of the factors that may affect the royal jelly's chemical composition (protein and sugar supplementation of beehives) and the second on the analysis of a great number of samples from across Greece to establish natural variability of this product. We compared our findings with the adopted national limits, the proposals of the working group of the International Honey Commission (IHC), and the draft proposal of the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). The studied parameters included moisture, total proteins, sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, total sugars), and 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). Our results indicate that the limits for royal jelly in some countries should be amended and the proposals of the IHC and the ISO reviewed in view of recent data on variability. We believe that our proposals could be considered for setting global standards for royal jelly, as they incorporate national legislations, proposals of scientific groups, experimental data, and updated information. KEY WORDS: 10-HDA; fructose; glucose; Greece; international guidelines; IHC; ISO; moisture; national standards; sucrose; sugar; total proteins Royal jelly (RJ) is a creamy, whitish, strongly acidic secretion from the mandibular and hypopharyngeal (cephalic) glands of nurse bees (Apis mellifera). It can change an ordinary worker bee larva, which usually lives a month and a half, into a large queen bee that can live up to five years and easily lay her own weight in eggs each day. The pharmaceutical properties of RJ for humans have been extensively studied and several claims were made regarding its beneficial effects on the immune system, metabolism, vascular and glandular function, skin health, heart function, and cholesterol and lipid control (1-4). However, these claims have been contested by the European Food Safety Authority, which concluded that no relationship has been evidenced between the consumption of royal jelly and the claimed effects (5).In spite of this unfavourable opinion, RJ is still one of the most popular beehive products in many countries. Official data on the production of RJ are not available, but it is estimated that the world production is a few thousand tonnes per year (6). China alone is estimated to produce about 2,000 tonnes per year, or about 60.0 % of the global production (7). RJ is also produced in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, and the EU countries such as Spain, Greece, France, and Italy.Although RJ is a promising product with added financial value for the beekeepers, the industry is growing very slowly, and the local demand in many countries is covered Kanelis D, et al. A suggestion for royal jelly specifications Arh Hig Rada Toksikol 2015;66:275-284 by import from China. What largely discourages beekeepers from expanding their businesses is the lack of quality criteria and control of authenticity and geographical origin.Today, there are no s...
