How to make medical grade honey: A comprehensive guide

December 11, 2025 •

4 min read

Medical-grade honey is a sterile product that is extensively processed and standardized for safety and efficacy in treating wounds and burns, unlike the honey found in your kitchen pantry. This critical difference means it is impossible for individuals to replicate the process for how to make medical grade honey safely at home. The production requires specialized equipment and strict adherence to medical device regulations to ensure it is free from contaminants, including bacterial spores like Clostridium botulinum.

Quick Summary

The creation of medical-grade honey is a highly specialized industrial process involving sourcing, ultra-filtration, and gamma irradiation to achieve sterility. It must meet stringent international standards to be legally used as a medical device for wound care.

Key Points

Not a DIY Process: It is impossible to make medical-grade honey at home due to the need for industrial sterilization equipment and controlled processing to remove harmful spores.
Sterilization is Key: Gamma irradiation is the standard method used to sterilize medical-grade honey, effectively killing microbial spores without damaging the honey's beneficial components.
Stringent Standards: The production of medical-grade honey adheres to strict international medical device regulations, including standards for purity, sterility, and antibacterial potency.
Source Matters: Medical-grade honey is often sourced from specific floral origins, like manuka, known for its stable and potent non-peroxide antimicrobial activity.
Safety First: Applying unsterilized, regular honey to open wounds is dangerous due to the risk of bacterial infection, including botulism.
Product Differentiation: Medical-grade honey is classified as a medical device, whereas raw or commercial honey is a food product, with different safety standards and regulations.

Understanding the Foundation: What Medical Grade Honey Is (and Isn't)

Medical-grade honey is not a simple DIY project but a highly regulated medical product. While standard honey possesses natural antibacterial properties due to its high sugar content, low pH, and presence of hydrogen peroxide, it is not sterile and can contain microbial spores. The danger, especially in open wounds, comes from spores such as Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism. This inherent risk is why commercial honey, even raw honey, should never be used on open wounds.

The medical-grade version, such as products derived from manuka honey, undergoes a series of precise, controlled steps to guarantee its safety and potency. A specific botanical source is often chosen for its high, stable, non-peroxide antibacterial activity, which is effective even when diluted by wound exudate.

The Commercial Production Process

The process for creating medical-grade honey is a multi-step industrial operation governed by strict protocols. It begins with sourcing and ends with standardized, sterilized packaging.

Step 1: Sourcing and Selection

The journey starts with honey harvested from specific, organic regions to minimize exposure to pollutants and contaminants. Manuka honey from New Zealand, gathered from the Leptospermum scoparium plant, is a common source due to its high and consistent antibacterial properties. This raw honey is tested for various characteristics, including its unique antibacterial factors like Methylglyoxal (MGO), to ensure it meets the required potency.

Step 2: Filtration

After collection, the honey is subjected to ultra-filtration. This process removes impurities, pollen particles, and any physical debris. This step is crucial for achieving a uniform and clean product, which is essential for medical use.

Step 3: Sterilization by Gamma Irradiation

This is the most critical step in the manufacturing process and the primary reason medical-grade honey cannot be made at home. The filtered honey is sterilized using gamma irradiation from a cobalt-60 source. This method is preferred over heat-based sterilization (like pasteurization) because it effectively eliminates all microbial spores, including Clostridium botulinum, without destroying the honey's beneficial enzymes and compounds. Gamma irradiation ensures the product is completely sterile while preserving its therapeutic properties.

Step 4: Quality Control and Standardization

Throughout and after the process, rigorous quality control testing is performed to ensure the final product meets international standards and regulations (e.g., ISO and FDA). This includes testing for:

Sterility: To confirm all bacterial spores are eliminated.
Physicochemical properties: Measuring moisture content, pH, and electrical conductivity.
Antibacterial activity: Verifying the honey's antimicrobial potency.
Contaminants: Screening for pesticides, heavy metals, and other harmful substances.

Step 5: Packaging

Once approved, the sterile honey is packaged in controlled, sterile environments into specialized containers, such as tubes, gels, or wound dressings. This packaging protects the product from contamination until it is used by a healthcare professional.

Medical Grade Honey vs. Raw Honey

It is important to highlight the significant differences between a regulated medical product and unsterilized honey. The table below compares the two.


Feature	Medical Grade Honey	Raw/Commercial Honey
Sterilization	Yes, sterilized with gamma irradiation to eliminate all microbial spores.	No, unsterile and may contain bacterial spores like Clostridium botulinum.
Source	Harvested from specific, monitored regions and often from particular floral sources known for high, stable antimicrobial activity, such as manuka.	Sourced from a variety of floral sources and locations; inconsistent antibacterial properties.
Safety for Wounds	Formulated and tested specifically for application on open wounds and burns. Safe for medical use.	Not safe for use on open wounds due to the risk of infection from contaminants and spores.
Potency	Standardized and tested to ensure consistent antibacterial activity across batches.	Varies significantly depending on the floral source, season, and processing.
Regulation	Classified as a medical device and must adhere to strict regulatory guidelines from bodies like the FDA and CE.	Classified as a food product and subject to food safety regulations, not medical device standards.

Conclusion: The Final Word on Medical Grade Honey Production

In conclusion, to make medical grade honey is a sophisticated, highly regulated manufacturing process that is fundamentally different from collecting or infusing honey for consumption. The rigorous steps of controlled sourcing, ultra-filtration, and, most importantly, gamma irradiation are non-negotiable for ensuring a product that is safe and effective for clinical wound care. Attempting to replicate this process at home, even with high-quality raw honey, would be dangerous and ineffective. The presence of botulism spores in unsterilized honey poses a significant risk when applied to open wounds. For therapeutic use on burns and wounds, it is essential to always use a certified, sterile, medical-grade product, available commercially and through healthcare providers, rather than attempting a DIY solution.

For more detailed information on the specific properties and testing protocols for medical-grade honey, further research on the production standards is recommended.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, it is highly inadvisable to use raw honey on an open wound. Unlike medical-grade honey, it is not sterile and can contain bacterial spores like Clostridium botulinum, which pose a significant risk of infection.

Medical-grade honey is primarily sterilized using gamma irradiation. This process is chosen because it effectively kills bacterial spores without destroying the honey's natural beneficial enzymes and antibacterial properties.

Manuka honey is prized for medical applications due to its high, stable non-peroxide antibacterial activity. This means its antimicrobial effect is consistent and powerful, even when diluted by wound fluid, unlike some other honeys where the activity can vary greatly.

No, heating honey to high temperatures, such as in pasteurization, can alter or destroy some of its beneficial properties, including the enzymes that contribute to its antibacterial effects. Gamma irradiation is the approved method because it avoids this.

The main danger is the risk of contamination from bacterial spores present in unsterilized honey. While harmless when ingested by most healthy adults, these spores can proliferate in the anaerobic environment of a deep wound and produce dangerous toxins.

Yes, medical-grade honey is classified as a medical device and must comply with stringent regulations and standards from bodies such as the FDA and CE. Manufacturers must follow strict protocols for sourcing, processing, sterilization, and testing.

Certified medical-grade honey products are available through medical supply companies, hospitals, and pharmacies. These products, such as MediHoney, come in various forms like gels and impregnated dressings for safe and effective wound care.