Selling honey in Ontario

It's Anne's second summer, and her two hives have given her more honey than her family can eat. Her neighbours want some. A friend offers her half a table at the Saturday farmers' market. And Anne wonders whether she needs a licence, a special label, or anything at all before she sells her first jar.

In Ontario, honey sold to consumers is covered by a provincial regulation on produce, honey and maple products, with federal food rules on top. The rules are about grading, labels, containers and cleanliness. There is no separate provincial licence to sell honey.

Start with the simplest case, the farm gate exemption. If the honey comes from your own apiary, and you sell it directly to the customer at your own home, you don't need to grade it. The container only has to be marked with your name, your full address, and the word honey, with its French word, miel.

That exemption is tied to your home. Sell anywhere else, at a farmers' market, in a shop, or online, and the full rules apply. Your honey must be graded Ontario number one, two or three, and given a colour class: white, golden, amber or dark. The label must show the grade followed by the colour class, the net weight, the word honey, and your name and address.

A few details help. Small containers of one hundred and fifty grams or less don't need the grade, colour class or net weight. Consumer containers must be new, clean, sound and securely sealed. And the rooms and equipment you use for honey must be kept clean and sanitary.

Quality matters as much as the label. Honey that is contaminated can't be sold, or mixed with clean honey. And comb honey damaged by wax moth or small hive beetle can't be sold at all.

What about a federal licence? You only need one if you sell honey to another province, or export or import it. Selling within Ontario, you don't.

Then there's insurance. The Ontario Beekeepers' Association offers its members group liability insurance, about one hundred and fifty nine dollars a year for fewer than fifty colonies, covering stings and the sale of honey. The association also warns that most homeowner policies won't cover you once you start selling honey. Check yours before your first sale.

Now let's change one fact. Suppose Anne sells from her own front porch instead of the market. That's her home, and she's selling directly to the customer, so the farm gate exemption applies. Her jars need her name, full address, and honey, miel. At the market on Saturday, the very same jars would need a full graded label.

The mistake beginners make is assuming the farm gate rule travels with them. It doesn't. It stays at your home. Everywhere else, grade your honey, give it a colour class, and label it properly.

Here is the rule, in one breath. Honey from your own hives sold at your own home needs only your name, full address and honey, miel on the jar; anywhere else it needs an Ontario grade, a colour class, net weight and a full label, in new, clean containers, and check your insurance before you sell.

That's the end of module nine. Next, the most important season of all: getting your bees ready for an Ontario winter.