Author Topic: Registering to sell honey (Read 9873 times)

egel · « **on:** February 17, 2015, 09:46:25 pm »

Has anybody else tried to register with their local council to sell honey. It is a part of the Food Act legislation in Australia and anybody selling their honey regardless of the size of operation has to register as a food buisness with the local council. I have tried and it has opened a can of worms. Council initially said that honey was out of their jurisdiction and sent me to primary industries. Primary industries referred me back to the council. A very helpful lady from the council is following up with the South Australian Health department as nobody seams to know. If I want to sell my honey at a farmers market they ask for an approval number which I am meant to get from council. Araound and around it goes. Surely I am not the first. Can anybody out there comment on their experiences.

amun-ra · « **Reply #1 on:** February 18, 2015, 02:31:22 am »

must be an SA thing as we have no such issues in queensland

egel · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2015, 08:20:47 pm »

Amun-ra

Do you sell honey to the public? and if so what certification did you go through.

Wombat2 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 18, 2015, 10:35:07 pm »

Haven't come across any registration other than hive registration with the DPI. However if selling by retail I read somewhere ( and impliment it) that your Haney has to have a "generic" nutritional label on it and if not heat treating your honey you need a statement saying not to give to infants under 12 months of age - this is due to the fact that nearly all deaths from botulism poisoning occur by 11 mths with zero deaths after 12 months indicating immunity has developed to the background level of the infection.

Don't say you honey is organic unless you have paid the massive fees to be certified or the DPI will be down on you. (Heard there is only 3 certified organic honey producers in Australia)

Annoys the cr*p out of me when I see unlabelled jars of honey being sold at markets - probably from unregistered hives as well.

( from a former Drugs and Poisons Inspector who's job included ensuring labelling was correct)

egel · « **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2015, 11:36:09 pm »

Thanks Wombat2

I am aware of the labelling requirements and am using a label with all the required information including a batch number that is required for recall purposes. My biggest frustration at the moment is looking at the requirements for the extraction area. I believe that we have to meet the requirements of the food safe act and once you start reading and trying to comply it opens a whole new level of complexity. I am starting to wish that I did not talk to the local council. I guess that is what you get when you try to do the right thing.

yantabulla · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2015, 07:44:04 pm »

My advice would be

1. Never involve the local council in any of your beekeeping activities. You can set yourself up as a home based business and extract in your kitchen. Let them find you then plead ingnorance for any problems they find. The food standards code requires that you notify (3.2.2 clause 4) you can do it online in NSW but it would vary from state to state.

You should always register your hives with your equivalent of the DPI.

2. You must label your honey so that it complies with standard 1.2.2. i.e.

Name of the food
Lot identification (This can also be the best before date)
Name and address of the supplier (Cannot be a PO Box, website address or worse still a Facebook page)
Ingredients (Honey)
Date mark (You could argue that honey has a shelf life of > 2 years therefor does not require one)
Directions for use and storage (eg store in a cool dry place)
Nutrition information panel
Country of origin statement. (Product of Australia)

There are legal loopholes for labelling that I am happy to discuss with anyone who wants to know.

3. There are no requirements for any mandatory warning statements on honey. Standard 1.2.3 requires statements on food that contain pollen and propolis. Anyone who is allergic to pollen or propolis would understand that honey contains both. The statement about botulism is a myth.

I have 16 years experience as a food inspector in NSW. If you need help with labelling or wrangling of regulators send me a PM and I will be happy to give you a hand.

Yantabulla

awootton · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2015, 05:38:23 am »

Interesting about the botulism - can you elaborate please?

yantabulla · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2015, 05:49:01 am »

There is no requirement to put a warning about botulism on a honey label.

deknow · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2015, 08:37:06 am »

I have no clue about Australian regulations...but I'm curious what "heat treating" process honey can go through to kill botulism spores.

egel · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2015, 05:53:18 pm »

Yantabulla

Thanks for the information. I have sent the council a notification of food business and have been dealing directly with a very helpful lady at the council. I am hoping that all is resolved. I have also had a very lengthy talk with our state apiaries officer who was extremely helpful as well. Hopefully all is resolved, but I do get the feelling that the big guys are trying to encourage regulating us small guys out of the way. I hope I am wrong and I am hoping that I can continue bees for the rest of my life as I have found them very addictive. I love the old traditional ways of making as much of the equipment myself as possible and enjoy this as much as keeping the bees.

Richard M · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2015, 04:52:45 am »

I was a Local Govt EHO until 12 months ago (since 1979); basically it's a Low Risk Food (ie doesn't support growth of pathogens at room temps), therefore really labelling is your only thing. All they'll ask you to do is fill out a Food Business Notification and that should be it - no need to register etc.

Nutritional Information Panels are the thing - they seem daunting but Food Safety Australia have a NIP Calculator that's dead easy to use - especially for a single ingredient food like honey. Just follow the bouncing ball here - http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industry/npc/Pages/Nutrition-Panel-Calculator-introduction.aspx

Click on the legal agreement line, click "I agree" and then just follow the instructions.

If your labelling is legal, or appears to be so you'll be considered OK, no one will be interested in you - they've way bigger fish to fry.

In the absence of any microbial pathogen risk, the only thing that could get you in trouble and to bear in mind after that is foreign body contamination but in a translucent product like honey, you're hardly likely to allow a jar containing a bee or a wasp or blowfly out past the front gate anyway.

Yantabulla is pretty well spot on with everything else. There are minimum font sizes etc for labels but unless you're selling through Coles, I doubt anyone's going to worry - my personal test for a label was whether I could read it or not.

This is a good guide - http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/documents/Food%20Labels%20Posterfinal%20.pdf .

egel · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2015, 10:44:30 pm »

Richard

Great information, thank you very much for putting my mind at ease. Sounds like common sense prevails after all. I did some research very early on with the labelling and from the information you have provided our labelling is up to scratch.

Thanks again to everyone who provided information.

Richard M · « **Reply #12 on:** February 24, 2015, 03:48:06 am »

Quote from: deknow on February 22, 2015, 08:37:06 am

I have no clue about Australian regulations...but I'm curious what "heat treating" process honey can go through to kill botulism spores.

Canning industry uses "Botulinum Cook" - 121 degrees C for 3 minutes. (ie really hot pressure cooker).

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/botulinum-cook.html

It would do the trick but I don't reckon it would sell for much afterwards.

Richard M · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2015, 03:53:09 am »

Quote from: yantabulla on February 21, 2015, 07:44:04 pm

.... The statement about botulism is a myth......

As I understand it, while there has been no definite causal link proven, infant botulism is frequently associated with honey consumption by children under in 12 months old.

Whilst correlation is not necessarily causation, there's enough there to give pause for thought if it's your baby or grandchild.

US Govt Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who are considered a worldwide authority on control of disease think so too -

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/botulism/

yantabulla · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2015, 07:53:07 am »

You have removed my quote from the context it was in.

There are no mandatory labelling requirements for honey in relation to botulinum.

Richard M · « **Reply #15 on:** February 24, 2015, 05:55:23 pm »

Quote from: yantabulla on February 24, 2015, 07:53:07 am

You have removed my quote from the context it was in.

There are no mandatory labelling requirements for honey in relation to botulinum.

Ah right.

Wombat2 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 25, 2015, 04:20:04 am »

I suppose you only have to ask yourself would I give my raw unprocesseded honey to my 6 month old baby and your answer to that is how you would label your honey for others.

max2 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2015, 04:15:37 am »

I have never asked and have sold honey at markets for many years. The inspectors does come past but has never said anything

yantabulla · « **Reply #18 on:** February 27, 2015, 04:47:47 am »

Max has worked it out. Never offer yourself up to local government. Just get on with it and plead ignorance.

Richard M · « **Reply #19 on:** February 27, 2015, 07:28:37 am »

Quote from: max2 on February 27, 2015, 04:15:37 am

I have never asked and have sold honey at markets for many years. The inspectors does come past but has never said anything

As I said,bigger fish to fry. It's a low risk food, so not worth worrying about when you've got some dodgy boogger selling home made seafood salad from a fly-infested open stall, just around the corner.