Beverley
Beekeepers' Association
The local
Beekeeping Association for East
Yorkshire
Evening
Meeting 13/02/08
Talk by Ian Reader entitled
“The Law Applicable to Beekeepers”
It’s
always good to hear a presentation from one of our members
and especially when it’s the first time he’s given us a
talk. On 13 February Ian Reader gave a presentation,
co-prepared by Rachel Reynolds, a colleague who
unfortunately could not be present. Ian is a Trading
Standards Officer with ERYC and he described the rules and
regulations covering the sale of honey by hobbyist
beekeepers.
The scope of the talk started with the areas of
composition, labelling, and weighing which were fairly
straight forward and well known to many present. One aspect
that was new to me was that it is not necessary to weigh
honey into a jar; volumetric dosing is permitted as long as
the net retail weight is not less than the weight stated on
the label.
He then moved on to up-coming regulations covering the
registration of primary food producers. This was new,
having started in 2006. Fortunately there are permitted
exemptions to registration for producers operating from
private domestic premises and supplying directly to
customers or local retail establishments. This would seem
to exempt all our members, although a beekeeper could
register if he wished and it would not necessarily trigger
an inspection of his premises.
Other things on the horizon are the ending after 2009 of
prescribed weights for pre-packaged foods such as honey.
Enforcement has been discontinued since December 2007. The
significance of this was not clear and unit pricing will
clearly be needed. Ian doubted the traffic light system for
identifying the fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar content
in foods would be made to apply to honey.
Two websites, which might be of use, were given:
www.tradingstandards.gov.uk
and
www.food.gov.uk.
Although honey was considered a low risk food product, any
members selling hive products for cosmetic uses should be
aware that extensive testing would be required.
There were several questions from the floor.
In answer to why a member’s premises had been inspected by
a food safety officer, Ian doubted the officer would return
and if he did he should be asked: “on what grounds he
thought the beekeeper needed to be registered as a primary
food producer.”
When asked about the low borage pollen content found in a
borage honey, a colleague of Ian’s from analytical services
said that borage pollen was always under-represented and
they would expect monofloral borage honey to contain only
above 40% borage pollen.
Clarification of cut comb honey weights was sought, it was
considered this could be sold as the precise net weight, or
any weight such as 227g as long as the weight was 227g or
more but avoiding the term “minimum weight”.
(The end of prescribed weights will allow a greater
choice of retail weights.[SAB])
Cases of deliberate misrepresentation, which had appeared
in the press, were raised. Ian said cases such as these
could get beekeepers a bad name and the agencies were there
to protect the public from such suppliers.
Ian was given hearty applause from a packed house for a
presentation that we needed to hear. A printed copy of the
presentation was given to most members present. A copy is
available from the librarian.
Stewart
Beckett
February 2008