The truth about honey labels | Part 1

General food label consumer education has a poor reputation. What do honey food labels mean?

How much do you know about honey labeling?

A few years ago, I was at a popular honey shop in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. A couple admired all of the honey varietals and one person said, “Oh, wildflower honey!” Although it wasn’t invited, since I was just a foot away, I explained that all honey can be labeled wildflower honey. When the beekeeper doesn’t have evidence of the major varietal source in the honey, they can label it “wildflower” and that’s why you often see “wildflower honey” on cocktail menus and honey jars. They seemed skeptical, and I guess I would be too. Who came up with this rule, and why?

Deception and adulteration of honey

Tracking down information on the proper labeling of honey crosses a few regulatory layers and ultimately rests on a big pile of trust. Documentaries, books, and exposés on the high fructose corn syrup found in big box grocery store honey show how deceiving the large-scale honey business has become, and how important it is to know your local beekeeper.

Faux beekeepers

While the international honey business might remain too big a bear to wrestle, some degree of investigation happens on local levels. My beekeeping mentor, based in the same North Carolina county as me, sold honey a few years ago at a neighboring county’s farmers’ market. A representative from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA) was at the market and asked to verify that the honey was produced in the area and that he was really a beekeeper. The representative set up time to visit my mentor’s apiary and see his extraction equipment. Apparently there had been repeated instances at markets around the state of people buying honey from the grocery store, re-labeling it, and selling it for premium local honey prices at farmers’ markets.

The regulatory gap that exists in honey labeling and sales creates opportunities for deception and corruption. Fortunately, the NCDA started spot-checking. Spot-checks don’t resolve the main issue, which is that honey labeling wobbles on trust, and the label is only as good as the producer.

Varietal honey lab testing

Tulip poplar is known as the primary nectar source in the Piedmont of North Carolina, but you can only sell poplar honey if you have a lab test verifying that it’s a main source.

The trust factor surfaces again when it comes to varietal honey. While “wildflower honey” has a nice ring to it, the honey could have a primary nectar source. If labels tout a specific variety of honey (such as tupelo, sourwood, acacia, etc.), then the honey producer must have laboratory-tested evidence that the honey harvest contains a majority of that variety. Laboratory validation is expensive and needs to be done with each harvest to legitimately apply a varietal label to the batch. Honey analyses range from $250 to $400 (sometimes more) and are only offered in a few states domestically. I know a local beekeeper who sent his honey to a lab in Germany several years ago because he couldn’t find an affordable lab in the United States. (Note to beekeepers: The Texas A&M Palynology Lab is re-opening. I’m including lab sampling information at the end of this post.) Last summer I drove through parts of Eastern Tennessee and stopped at a small help-yourself-style farm stand with an honor system coffee can payment setup. I had found the spot through Google Maps and the beekeeper’s website proudly displayed a recent honey lab analysis that showed his honey was primarily from sourwood. (If you’re not familiar with sourwood honey, the only place in the world to harvest it is in this part of Appalachia. OUR STATE has a phenomenal profile on this special honey. When sourwood is in bloom, honey bees will abandon all other nectar sources and only visit sourwood until it’s depleted, which makes it especially important to add hive space at just the right time.) The beekeeper happened to drive by on a side-by-side when I pulled up. I chatted with him and learned that his sourwood honey came from just a mile away from my mountain apiary in Western North Carolina. He moves his hives in the summer to catch the sourwood flow, then moves them back to Tennessee. I was tickled to hear his honey had been harvested so close to mine.

Honey producers might create other types of honey that aren’t varietals. For example, creamed honey is partially crystallized and might be infused with certain herbs, and strained, to create an herbal creamed honey. Spun sage honey is a common type (and very delicious). Infused honey is essentially the same, but without crystallized honey. These products aren’t created from the nectar of the herb, but instead are infused with the herb after the bees create the honey.

What honey labels mean

The Food and Drug Administration provides guidance for proper labeling of honey and doesn’t require an ingredients list if the container is pure honey. “Consumers would know what the food is and what the food contains by reading the label. A properly labeled package of only honey would show the name of the food as ‘honey,’ and it would not need an ingredient statement because it would only contain one ingredient.” The FDA doesn’t require producers to include the “floral source” of the honey. If a floral source is represented on the label, then the producer must provide evidence of the honey source, as I shared with the sourwood example earlier.

Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) – “The grassroots alternative to certified organic.” This label recognizes chemical-free practices that focus on hive health and requires an annual peer-reviewed inspection. I was in the CNG program during the first few years I kept bees. Due to aging family care, I haven’t been able to maintain the annual peer inspection requirements, so I’ve taken a break from it.

Raw – Honey hasn’t been heated higher than 110 degrees F. (This standard varies by certification and jurisdiction.)

Filtered – The majority of fine particles (like pollen) have been removed.

Strained – Most particles (comb and propolis) have been removed and fine particles (like pollen) remain.

Terms on honey labels that don’t (officially) mean anything

Artisan, wildflower, spring/summer/fall flowers – All of these references have no official standards and are mainly used for marketing purposes.

USDA Honey Grades A, B, C, and substandard are voluntary labels that have no official inspection requirements. (I’d like to meet the beekeeper who voluntarily labels their honey “substandard.”)

USDA Organic – According to World Honey Market (2022), in the United States, all honey that’s “certified organic” is imported from other countries and certified organic by its country of origin. The USDA’s Organic certification makes no acknowledgement on additives, chemical residues, bee feeding, or raw status. The label means that the USDA has validated the country’s certification and has not inspected or certified the product themselves.

What to look for on honey labels

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires that honey labels state the name and place of the producer, identity of contents, and the net contents in ounces/pounds and grams. If you’re based in the US, check your state’s department of agriculture or local co-operative extension office for information about state-specific honey regulations. State beekeeper associations can also help provide information about labeling. For example, North Carolina has state-level requirements for honey labels, but there are additional requirements if someone wants to be part of a certified honey program.

Questions about honey labels

Have you learned anything new about honey labels? Or still have questions? Let me know in the comments. As the title of this post implies, I’m planning multiple parts in this honey label series.

Honey lab analysis options: Visit the National Honey Board to find honey testing labs. As mentioned earlier in the post, Dr. Heather Thakar (thakar@tamu.edu) will re-open the TAMU Palynology Lab. SAMPLE requirements: 30 to 50 grams of fresh honey directly from the hive that hasn’t been strained or filtered. Include important information about the origin of the honey sample (location of origin, local vegetation, expected or unexpected plant types). Knowing the origin expedites the analysis. SAMPLE processing time: Allow 1 month for standard sample processing, analysis, and report. Samples submitted close to holidays and university closures may take up to 2 months. Send honey in well-sealed plastic or glass containers. Seal each container in its own individual plastic zip-top bag. Palynology Laboratory, Anthropology Department Texas A&M University (TAMU-4352) College Station, TX, 77843-4352. Per SAMPLE cost: $200 to $350 per sample, depending on specific analyses (pollen type confirmation or full pollen concentration values), sample origin, and whether expedited services are requested. Texas sample $200; domestic (USA) sample $250; Hawaii and foreign samples $300; expedited services $50/sample.