Best before / batch number

[muckandmagic]

Hi,

I mostly sell honey from my front door and therefore (as I understand it) don't have to worry about BB and batch numbers. However, I may have the option to start supplying a local shop.....

I have been toying with the idea of buying a 2 line labeling gun and some pre-printed labels (cheaper on eBay than from the beekeeping retailers...). Has anyone else gone down this route?

David.

 

[Poly Hive]

The critical word is sell.

If you are selling you should be complying with all the rules and regs. Labelling and weight are very important and you may well find if you supply a shop that mateys from Weights and Measures arrive for a chat.

PH

 

[Frisbee]

The thing is - Trading Standards may well arrive on your doorstep (Weights and Measures, Hygiene etc it's all under the same hat) What you want to do if you are serious about this route is to contact them first. Find out the rules and reglations, have somebody visit. It is as easy to do something correctly as it is to do something wrong. They are there to help and if you make the first move and show you want to do things right they will be only to pleased to help and point you in the right direction.
Honey will be classed as a low risk food, there are certain things about your premises they will require, mostly a wash hand basin, no washing machine in the same room as the honey bottling/storage, no animals, scales to be stamped - it is as illegal to over sell weight as it is to under sell, but that's about it. Once they have inspected your premises and registered you as a food producer you will see little of them unless you do something drastically wrong.

Frisbee

 

[VEG]

No washing machine whats that all about?
After all most people on small scale would be using their kitchens after all.

 

[Frisbee]

Dirty clothes............

If you use your kitchen for your food preparation - in this case honey, extracting/straining/bottling, they don't like you to have your domestic washing machine in the same room.

I suppose they may not be so fussy about honey as it is low risk, but when you see food preparation people in overalls they are not protecting themselves from the food (although they may think that) they are protecting the food from contamination from their (dirty) clothes.

I've been in catering on and off all my life and when I moved into this house and had some work done on the kitchen I moved the washing machine out and put in a wash hand basin, it's actually not much of a requirement.

Frisbee

 

[VEG]

So does that mean i will have to move the washing machine out of the kitchen when extracting and bottling then?

 

[Frisbee]

That would depend on what you were doing with the honey

Frisbee

 

[VEG]

Lol i was thinking of using the w/machine to extract the honey then go outside to the pipe that goes down the drain and bottle form there lol that would give them something to talk about

Sory to go off track but I didnt realise the washing machine bit. It is a bit of a requirement if you dont have anywhere else to put the w/machine I will have to look into it a bit more. Thanks for the info.

 

[Frisbee]

Lol i was thinking of using the w/machine to extract the honey then go outside to the pipe that goes down the drain and bottle form there lol that would give them something to talk about

Now you're being silly

Sory to go off track but I didnt realise the washing machine bit.

It is a basic requirement for food preparation in a domestic environment for sale to the general public, but as I said earlier you may get away with it as honey is low risk.

I had a friend who used to make celebration cakes and held classes in her house. The H & H man used to visit occasionally and she always said moving the washing machine was something they were going to get round to but hadn't quite, he didn't cause a fuss, it never did get done and she eventually moved house. You need to know the rules though, and why.

Frisbee

 

[VEG]

Thanks for the info

 

[planbee]

My late wife was a Chef, and used to prepare some food at home for small functions.

We had a W/Mc in the kitchen, but the Environmental Health Officer didn't seem bothered, but he did peer inside it.

I think that because it was nice and clean inside, and the rest of the room the same, he was happy.

It has occurred to me since starting to write this, that you might be able to use the premises of another beek who is already set up and registered, if you only had a small amount.

John

 

[Poly Hive]

On the same theme, it pays you to have a set of "stamped weights" so that you can prove you are checking the accuracy of your ever so accurate scales.

Be aware in the eyes of the law it is as bad to over fill as under fill. By that I mean over weight is as illegal as under weight.

PH