Does all honey contain bacteria?
No vegetative forms of disease-causing bacterial species have been found in honey. Bacteria do not replicate in honey and as such high numbers of vegetative bacteria could indicate recent contamination from a secondary source. Certain vegetative microbes can survive in honey, at cool temperatures, for several years.
Honey may be contaminated by bacteria, yeasts, fungi or molds, though they usually will not reproduce to significant numbers. It may also contain toxic compounds from certain plants or can be adulterated with poor-quality sweeteners or processing. Additionally, honey that is stored incorrectly will not last as long.
The antimicrobial activity in most honeys is due to the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide. However, another kind of honey, called non-peroxide honey (viz., manuka honey), displays significant antibacterial effects even when the hydrogen peroxide activity is blocked.
In fact, honey including raw honey can contain the spore forming bacterium, Clostridium botulinum, that causes intestinal botulism (also called infant botulism).
In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent.
In general, honey doesn't spoil. However, it can go bad if it's contaminated or incorrectly stored. If your honey has visible mold, or if it smells fermented or "off," then it's time to toss it.
Honey is also naturally extremely acidic. “It has a pH that falls between 3 and 4.5, approximately, and that acid will kill off almost anything that wants to grow there,” Harris explains. So bacteria and spoil-ready organisms must look elsewhere for a home–the life expectancy inside of honey is just too low.
Honey Will Never Grow Mold Or Spoil
Honey is hygroscopic, which means that it is water-negative and can even draw water from the air in improper storage conditions, leaving nothing for microbes and molds to grow on. Honey also has a low pH value, making it too acidic for most microbes.
Heating honey higher than 140 degrees F for more than 2 hours will cause rapid degradation.
First, let's assuage the most serious concern – no, heating honey will not turn it toxic and kill you. Heating up raw honey will change the makeup of the honey, and potentially weaken or destroy enzymes, vitamins, minerals, etc (more on this in a second) but it will not give you a horrible disease or poison you.
What temp kills good bacteria in honey?
Heating honey to high temperatures – generally above 45-50°C – eliminates these benefits by killing the bacteria, enzymes, and antioxidants that make honey so powerful.
Honey can contain the bacteria that causes infant botulism, so do not feed honey to children younger than 12 months. Honey is safe for people 1 year of age and older. Learn more about infant botulism from the Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program.

botulinum spores thus far definitively linked to infant botulism by both laboratory and epidemiologic evidence. However, that said, not every jar of honey has botulinum spores in it. To date, avoiding feeding honey to infants 12 months of age or less is the only known prevention measure for infant botulism.
Raw Honey: The difference between raw honey and pure honey is that in addition to being pure, “raw” honey has not been heated to the point of pasteurization (no higher than 118°F).
Raw honey is 100% real, natural honey. When at the grocery store, make sure you're getting raw and unfiltered honey that's 100% pure. That means it was gathered by beekeepers. Beekeepers make sure to preserve the natural qualities of honey when extracting and bottling raw honey.
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