Selling honey in the UK: labels, rules and records

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Do I need to register to sell honey?

Usually not. Your own honey, extracted and jarred, is a primary product. Food-hygiene registration does not apply to a beekeeper selling their own unprocessed honey in small amounts. That covers selling at the gate or a market, and to nearby shops that sell to the public. 1 So a hobby beekeeper selling plain honey does not need to register.

Size and reach matter too. If you grow well beyond small local sales, you should register even for plain honey. That means supplying shops that are not local, supplying wholesalers, or selling across the country online or by post.

“Small quantity” is not defined in law, so your local council’s environmental-health team has the final say. A quick email settles it, and some markets ask for registration anyway. The official guidance is food business registration on GOV.UK.

What must be on a honey label?

For prepacked honey sold in England, Wales or Scotland - the rules are effectively the same across Great Britain, while Northern Ireland follows EU labelling rules, so check locally there - your label needs:

• The name of the food - the word “honey” is a reserved description, and specific types have their own defined names, and Cut comb and comb honey covers them: comb honey must be called “comb honey”, and honey with pieces of comb in it “chunk honey” or “cut comb in honey”.
• Net weight in grams or kilograms. Common UK jar sizes are 227 g (8 oz), 340 g (12 oz) and 454 g (1 lb).
• Your name and address - the producer or packer, so the buyer can contact someone responsible for the food.
• A best-before date. Honey keeps for years; a date two to five years out is common.
• A lot mark for traceability. A best-before date that shows at least the day and month can double as the lot mark; a month/year-only date needs a separate lot number (for example “L2026-07”).
• Country of origin - for your own honey, wording such as “Produce of the UK”. Blended or imported honey has stricter origin wording. Check the current rules if that applies to you. 2

Flavoured honey and allergens

Plain honey has no allergens you have to declare. Add anything, such as almonds, walnuts or ginger, and it is no longer legally “honey”. You then have to list the ingredients, and pick out any of the 14 declarable allergens, usually in bold.

Tree nuts are on that list. So “honey with almonds” needs an ingredients list with almonds in bold. Food prepacked for direct sale, meaning made and sold from the same premises, needs a full ingredients list too.

The one rule that can stop you selling

If you treat your colonies, the product’s withdrawal period decides when that hive’s honey may be sold or eaten. The withdrawal period is one of the details GOV.UK requires you to record every time you treat. 3 What it means for the honey is set by the label on the product in your hand, and that is the document to read: honey taken during a treatment, or before the stated period has elapsed, does not go into a jar for anyone. It is worth knowing before you plan a harvest around a market date - the treatment guide covers the dates to record.

Weights and measures

Jars must hold at least the stated weight on average. GOV.UK is blunt about the equipment: you cannot use domestic scales to weigh goods you intend to sell. Scales sold as legal for trade carry an M in a square next to the CE or UKCA mark, and the smallest bench models are not expensive. Weigh a sample from each batch and keep a note. Trading Standards can ask how you check your fills, so a simple record of date, batch and sample weights is worth keeping.

The records worth keeping

Beyond the label, a small paper trail keeps you compliant and saves headaches:

• Batch records - which hives and extraction date each lot number came from, so a question about one jar traces back to its source.
• Sales records - who bought what and when, particularly for shop and trade customers. Keep them for the shelf life of the batch plus a season.
• Medicine records - if you treat your colonies, the veterinary medicines record is a legal duty in its own right. The beekeeper’s veterinary medicines record covers it.

Pricing your honey

Local honey usually sells for £8 to £12 for a 454 g jar at retail, and less per jar at trade prices to shops that sell it on. Whatever you charge, record jar sizes and batch numbers against each sale. It turns “I think that batch went to the farm shop” into something you can check.