Profile of the Cooperative
Behind the honey of Sithon lies the hard work and love of the people of the Agricultural Beekeeping Cooperative of Nikiti Halkidiki. The Cooperative, one of the largest in Europe, was founded in 1952. The rare bee-eating flora combined with the suitable climate is one of the main reasons why Sithon’s honey is among the best in Greece and Europe. The other reason is the ultra-modern infrastructure, the deep expertise, the great love and tradition in honey. In the mid-1980s, the Cooperative takes a step forward by building its own honey packing plant. In 1987, Sithon honey starts its standardization, ushering in a new era!
A sweet story continues...
The continuation of our sweet story is relatively predictable… In the years that followed, the Cooperative grew by investing in technology, expertise and selected human resources. It soon became one of the largest and most modern beekeeping cooperatives in Europe. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was one of the first cooperatives to introduce computerization in its organization. At the same time, with the aim of certified quality, it created its own honey quality control laboratory. The honey is tested for its quality by the quality control laboratory, in cooperation with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Institute of Beekeeping and the two leading European honey testing laboratories APPLICA and QSI.
All our members… love honey!
Today, over 70,000 beehives and 140 beekeepers are working for your honey! Each of the beekeepers owns large beekeeping units- 500 to 1600 hives – and has dedicated his or her life to the production of honey. Professionals dedicated to honey, they transport the hives all over Greece, following the path of the flowers. In the past, the beehives were moved through Halkidiki. Now, they start their beekeeping year in November from the Peloponnese or central Greece and return to Macedonia in spring. Here, anthomelo is produced from June to August.
The Cooperative produces a wide variety of honey types, mainly anthomelo and pine honey, in its 4000 m2 of premises, which exceeds 1000 tons, equivalent to 12-14% of the annual Greek honey production!
The quality policy of the Cooperative is based on the following quality policy
The Cooperative’s policy is to produce and supply products that fully meet the quality requirements of its customers, through the implementation of processes that, at the same time, have a controlled impact on the environment and the health and safety of employees.
The company’s aim is to offer its customers products of a consistently high level of quality and safety, while at the same time providing excellent health and safety conditions to its staff, as well as production processes that demonstrate its respect for the environment.
The Management, represented by the System Manager and with the active participation of all employees, undertakes to act, control, evaluate and improve the Company’s performance at all operational levels.
The Management takes all necessary measures to encourage both its employees to achieve continuous improvement and its partners from the external environment and suppliers with the main objective of continuous and safe production of genuine and clean products.
The management aims to meet the requirements of all stakeholders even beyond their expectations by implementing a proactive approach, evaluating the effectiveness of actions and regular reviews.
We declare that:
We strongly support the spirit and letter of our Company’s Management Policy, as expressed in our Management System documentation, and we are committed to producing high quality products in accordance with the applicable legal requirements regarding product safety and legislation in general. This will be done with full respect for the environment, which is the reservoir of honey production, and above all, for the staff and cooperative producers, who are the real potential of the company. The latter will be given every possible assistance in their work, with the aim of producing the best and healthiest product possible.