Ten queens are awaiting clearance from Canada, which has Varroa mite, a blood sucking parasite in all major honey harvesting countries except Australia, and which is rated as one of the nation's greatest biosecurity threats.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry says introducing new bee genetics will improve production of hives and build resistance against dangerous pests and diseases.

Assistant secretary in the animal division Andrew Cupit says the bees will be taken from Sydney Airport to Eastern Creek's quarantine facility to be screened for pests and diseases.

Importing animals is risky, as a national poultry syndicate found in July when ordered to destroy 4000 rare chickens. They had spent $500,000 importing the chicks from the United Kingdom, when one tested positive for salmonella, ending years of preparatory work to restock Australia's poultry breeds.

Importing queen bees from the US was suspended in 2006 because it could not be determined whether their honey bees contained genes from the Africanised honey bee, Apis mellifera scutellata, and its hybrids.

Imports from all sources were suspended in 2008 amid concerns about the international spread of colony collapse disorder.

If no evidence of parasites is detected, the imported queens owned by a commercial NSW beekeeper, will be isolated with Australian escort bees for 14 days.

All imported escort bees will remain in the original cage, be killed and then examined internally and externally by an entomologist for mites, including Varroa.

At the end of 14 days, the Australian escort bees will be killed and examined for mites as well.

The imported queens will be introduced into a nucleus colony sourced from a resident hive at Eastern Creek.

The nucleus colony will include a frame of comb containing young larvae. About 10 days following introduction of the imported queen, that frame will be removed and all larvae/pupae will be examined for Varroa and other mites. ''Once given the all-clear, the queen bees' eggs or larvae will be grafted and added into Australian colonies,'' Mr Cupit said.

He said counter-seasonal trade from northern and southern hemispheres helped the industry improve genetics.

Importing bees legally was a good way to discourage illegal imports, which were more likely to breach biosecurity.

''You can always manage the risk. This is what we do, manage it to an acceptable level. We do this for all commodities,'' he said.

''Even for Australian bees going elsewhere, the Canadians will do their own risk assessment, accordingly to examine what we've got in our country. It works both ways.''

Mr Cupit said it was up to commercial parties to then determine what type of genetics they wanted to import.