Selling honey

Honey is food, so selling it brings food-safety and labelling rules on top of your beekeeper registration. This page sets out the steps in order. The rules sit in several places and the detail varies by council and state, so each step points to the official page. It is a starting point, not legal advice.

Step 1: register as a beekeeper

You need to be registered as a beekeeper before you sell anything; see Registering your hives. That is a biosecurity registration. It does not cover food rules.

Step 2: notify your food business

The Food Standards Code (the national food rulebook) requires you to notify your local food regulatory agency when you start a food business. FSANZ says this includes home-based, online, mobile and one-off businesses. You usually notify once, but must tell the agency before any change to your name, location or activities. FSANZ lists what you will be asked for: business name, address and owner, the foods you make or supply, and whether you supply high-risk groups such as children or older people.

FSANZ does not say whether primary producers or honey sellers are exempt, and councils and states may treat honey differently. Ask your agency before you sell. The agency differs by state:

State or territory	Where to start
NSW	Your local council or the NSW Food Authority (a NSW notification page says to notify one of these)
VIC	Your local council
QLD	Your local council
SA	SA Health
WA	Your local council
TAS	Your local council
NT	NT Department of Health
ACT	ACT Health Protection Service

Check the FSANZ list of food regulatory agencies for current contacts, as agencies and their names change. Selling at a market or under a stall may need extra permission from the market organiser or council.

Step 3: keep extraction clean

Basic hygiene for honey production:

• Make sure equipment and containers are clean and dry before use.
• Filter the honey through fine mesh strainers.
• Store honey only in food-grade containers that can be cleaned.
• Keep up good personal hygiene while handling and processing.

Your food regulatory agency can tell you what it expects of your extraction space. For the harvesting steps themselves, see Honey harvesting.

Step 4: label every jar

Three items of information are required on a label for packaged food under the Food Standards Code, according to FSANZ:

1. The name of the food: for example, “Honey”.
2. Lot identification: a code that links the jar back to the batch it came from, so a problem can be traced. FSANZ explains lot identification as part of traceability.
3. Supplier name and address in Australia or New Zealand: this is you, or the business that packed it.

Check the current Food Standards Code for exact wording and for exemptions.

Net quantity (trade measurement)

Packed honey also falls under trade measurement law. The National Measurement Institute (NMI) guide says packers and sellers must make sure labels carry the measurement marking and the packer’s identification, that the marking is accurate and leaves out the weight of the packaging, and that only permitted unit names are used (for example “kg” and “mL”, not “gm” or “kilos”). It also says the packer’s name and address must be shown. Read the NMI guide for the size and position of the print.

Country of origin

Australia’s country of origin food labelling standard applies to most food sold here, and the ACCC and business.gov.au both treat honey as a priority food, because it is not on the standard’s short list of non-priority categories. A claim like “Product of Australia” is strict. It needs all significant ingredients to be Australian, while “Made in Australia” depends on where the last substantial change happened. Use the ACCC guide to work out the required wording and mark for your jar.

Label checklist

• Name of the food
• Lot identification
• Your business name and street address
• Net quantity in the permitted units
• Country of origin wording or mark, as the ACCC guide requires

What this page leaves out

Rules on health claims, an “under 12 months” warning, honey grades, and state-by-state fees could not be confirmed from two official sources at the time of writing. Ask your food regulatory agency, and see the FSANZ page to start.

Next steps

1. Register as a beekeeper.
2. Phone your council or state food agency and ask what you must notify or register.
3. Set up a clean extraction space and keep records of each batch.
4. Design the label from the checklist above, and check it against the ACCC and NMI guides.
5. If you plan to grow into pollination or moving hives, see Migratory and pollination beekeeping.