Honey is a popular functional food due to its properties based on its composition of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties. In addition, the European honey bee Apis Mellifera is the most important pollinator crucial for food production. In the world, as well as in Europe, due to anthropogenic activities, including agricultural intensification and the use of pesticides, there are significant losses of bee colonies. This has led to a decrease in honey production, with 40% of consumption in the EU being imported. These, in short, were the reasons for launching another COST EU action with the honey bee as the subject of interest. 
In an effort to help and improve the sustainability of the bee community, this innovative network project will establish cooperation between international beekeeping stakeholders, and the results will relate to the following topics:
– nutritional and medicinal properties of honey and by-products,
– abiotic stressors and anthropogenic contaminants in the environment, using bee products as indicators, 
– prevalent diseases and biotic stressors that threaten bee communities,
– honey bees as pollinators in agriculture and the consequences of community loss in agricultural ecosystems,
– истраживање политика и анализа тржишта везаних за активности пчеларства.

The project will use a multi-sectoral approach to bring together different knowledge: chemistry, biology, ecology, veterinary science, beekeeping, agricultural engineering, nutrition, economics and policy, in order to achieve the development and conservation of production. The importance of beekeeping is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (2, 12 and 15), with the aim of promoting sustainable agriculture, quality production and sustainable use of ecosystems. VIRSVB is included in the work of Working Group 5, which has thematic areas of EU legislation, safety and marketing analysis of the honey value chain.