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Selling it

What every honey label must say

Updated

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Federal law sets a floor that applies wherever you are. It is shorter than people expect, and almost everything that trips beekeepers up sits above it, in state rules.

What a plain honey label needs

A jar of nothing but honey needs the word honey as its statement of identity, the net weight, and the name and address of whoever is responsible for it. It needs no ingredient list, because there is only one ingredient (FDA).

That is the federal floor. If your label has those and you are selling only within your own state under an exemption, you are usually close to compliant before the state layer is added.

Blends and flavored honey

A blend is a different product with a different name. FDA's guidance is explicit: a blend of honey and a sweetener must be named as one, such as blend of honey and corn syrup. You cannot call it honey and list the rest in the ingredients.

This catches people out with flavored honey. Adding cinnamon, chili or fruit changes what you are selling and, in several states, changes which exemption you are selling under. Flavored and infused honey has its own page, and it is worth reading before you make a batch rather than after.

Nutrition facts

Nutrition labeling requirements come from section 403 of the Act and 21 CFR 101, and small producers selling directly are frequently exempt. The exemption has conditions attached, including sales volume and employee count, so it is a threshold to check rather than a rule to assume.

What your state decides

Everything above is national. What is not national is whether you need a license, whether you may sell wholesale, what disclosure your label must carry, and how much you may sell in a year. Those are state questions and the answers are not similar to each other.

See selling under your state's rules.

Net weight, not volume

The error that costs a print run. Honey is roughly 1.42 times as dense as water, so a container that holds 12 fluid ounces of water holds about a pound of honey. Label the weight, never the volume.

11 oz Clear PET Honey Container
11 oz · holds 16 oz honey · 38-400 · PET · case of 295
Sold as 11 oz by volume, holds about 16 oz of honey by weight. The label states the weight.
Quote
See it

Net quantity also has a placement rule: it belongs in the bottom thirty percent of the principal display panel. A label that carries everything required and puts the weight in the middle is still wrong, and careful labels still get this wrong.

The claims that change what you are selling

A floral source is a claim about the honey, not a flavor description. Calling it Clover Honey means it must be chiefly clover.

Raw, unfiltered and local are not federally defined for honey. That does not make them free: they must be truthful and not misleading, and a buyer can hold you to them.

Organic is a certified term. Do not use it uncertified.

Any health effect: treats, prevents, relieves, helps with allergies, offers the product as a drug and moves it under requirements a small producer cannot meet. This is the line small producers cross most often, usually at a market stall rather than on a label, and it is still a claim.

References

US Food and Drug Administration. Guidance for Industry: Proper Labeling of Honey and Honey Products. fda.gov
Written from published federal guidance and state extension publications, not from a laboratory and not from a lawyer. Food law varies by state and changes without notice. Anything here is a starting point for a conversation with your state department of agriculture, not a determination that you comply.