Health certificates for selling?

[jeff33]

I recently approached the National Trust to see if they were interested in stocking my honey in one of the local visitor centre. The response was positive but as expected, suppliers need to go through an accreditation process in food safety including processing, storage, transport, distribution, etc with an STS company.

Most of us don't have a professional set-up and will extract and jar in our kitchen or garage probably falling short of a few standards. We have discussed labelling and what should be on them but what are the implications from an environmental health perspective from the moment we sell at the gate or other? I currently supply 2 local shops as well as doing markets this summer and I am wondering if should I have all the necessary certificates...Lets open the flood gate.

 

[bingevader]

You can do the food handling certificate on line.
It was about £15 last time I did it.
The FSA can come out and do their rating system with you.
It's more of a paper filling exercise than anything else, because they didn't actually see the extraction process (although he was quite keen to come back because it's in school with the children, but never did).
All I did was talk him through the process, with my folder of health and safety schedule, cleaning schedules and food handling certificate and that was that, 5 stars, or what ever they are.
Things seem less stringent with honey, because it is the final product.
You're not cooking or baking or mixing several ingredients together.
As long as you haven't done anything to it except extract it and bottle it there doesn't seem to be a problem.
They've said they don't need to come and see us again.

 

[For want of a better word]

I recently approached the National Trust to see if they were interested in stocking my honey in one of the local visitor centre. The response was positive but as expected, suppliers need to go through an accreditation process in food safety including processing, storage, transport, distribution, etc with an STS company.

Most of us don't have a professional set-up and will extract and jar in our kitchen or garage probably falling short of a few standards. We have discussed labelling and what should be on them but what are the implications from an environmental health perspective from the moment we sell at the gate or other? I currently supply 2 local shops as well as doing markets this summer and I am wondering if should I have all the necessary certificates...Lets open the flood gate.

Selling honey is a can of worms

Professional insurances.. product liability especially can be obtained from the NFU Mutual ,but you would need to be selling a lot of jars of honey to make it cover the cost!

And yes you would need to conform to all of the standards and regulations that abound for anyone producing and selling consumables.
BUT different Trading Standards departments seem to have different standards across the land.... from some of the posts I have seen on here over the years.

Majority of hobbyists make their own nice honey labels on the computer and give it away as welcome Xmas pressies!!!

Chons da

 

[Ian123]

Just contact your local council department you should find them very helpful. Do your on line test it’s really basic and takes longer to read the blurb than do the test. We had the guy round for a consultation visit and he came back a week later 5 star for household kitchen/premises

 

[jeff33]

Thanks all, I will get on the case.

 

[Hachi]

I recently approached the National Trust to see if they were interested in stocking my honey in one of the local visitor centre. The response was positive but as expected, suppliers need to go through an accreditation process in food safety including processing, storage, transport, distribution, etc with an STS company.

Most of us don't have a professional set-up and will extract and jar in our kitchen or garage probably falling short of a few standards. We have discussed labelling and what should be on them but what are the implications from an environmental health perspective from the moment we sell at the gate or other? I currently supply 2 local shops as well as doing markets this summer and I am wondering if should I have all the necessary certificates...Lets open the flood gate.

So, you're going thro their accreditation process isn't that enough? They will be more thorough than your local council and what's the point in taking an online test for £15 or so, what does that prove?

Keeping your work area clean and following basic hygiene rules is the key.

 

[Beefriendly]

It all depends where or to whom you are selling. No proper farmers market or council run market will accept you to sell on their markets unless you have basic hygiene level 2 certificate, have a star rating from your local authority which means you are registered as a food producer and have adequate liability insurance.
National Market federation membership includes a very good insurance package for about £110 a year, or if just selling honey the BBKA membership insurance is adequate.

If you are selling, say to shops etc without any of this certification and the proverbial hits the fan you will be held personally liable for the damages. In extreme cases it might mean your home and possessions may be sold to cover a claim.
Unlikely to happen but not impossible....it's your choice

 

[Karol]

I think that's sage advice. Unless you're a limited company it will be difficult to protect your worldly possessions should anything go wrong. All you need is something like this incident to happen without suitable warnings on your labels and things could get very sticky if you don't have public liability insurance:

https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/wellbeing-news/six-month-old-baby-dies-honey-490746

 

[Erichalfbee]

https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/wellbeing-news/six-month-old-baby-dies-honey-490746

Not trying to minimise the risk from honey but here’s a snip from that articleThe harmful bacteria can also be found in dust, dirt, and sometimes the air. So, it is important to avoid young children’s exposure to contaminated soil found on construction and agriculture sites

 

[Walrus]

if just selling honey the BBKA membership insurance is adequate.

I knew there had to be a reason for me renewing my BBKA subs every year!

 

[pargyle]

Not trying to minimise the risk from honey but here’s a snip from that articleThe harmful bacteria can also be found in dust, dirt, and sometimes the air. So, it is important to avoid young children’s exposure to contaminated soil found on construction and agriculture sites

Bloody hell .. I was brought up playing on bomb sites, we swam and fished in the local canal, I put pennies on the railway lines for the steam trains to squash, we ate berries and fruit we picked in the hedgerows without washing it and what was better than sitting with a bucket and spade making mud pies from the garden soil ....and I got a bath every week whether I needed it or not ?

I wonder, sometimes, whether we are just a bit too clean and sanitised .. I cannot remember a single kid at my school having any sort of an allergy .. apart from perhaps cross country running and homework !

I understand from the news that the levels of antibiotics now in our water courses and ponds are so high that there are strains of bacteria that are now completely immune to most of the common antibiotics ...open water swimmers are being warned !

PS: I'm not advocating feeding honey to infants ... I always warn people who buy my honey if they have babies in tow.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bloody hell .. I was brought up playing on bomb sites, we swam and fished in the local canal, I put pennies on the railway lines for the steam trains to squash, we ate berries and fruit we picked in the hedgerows without washing it and what was better than sitting with a bucket and spade making mud pies from the garden soil ....and I got a bath every week whether I needed it or not ?

I wonder, sometimes, whether we are just a bit too clean and sanitised .. I cannot remember a single kid at my school having any sort of an allergy .. apart from perhaps cross country running and homework !

I understand from the news that the levels of antibiotics now in our water courses and ponds are so high that there are strains of bacteria that are now completely immune to most of the common antibiotics ...open water swimmers are being warned !

PS: I'm not advocating feeding honeyed to infants ... I always warn people who buy my honey if they have babies in tow.

Absolutely
Playing in the dirt is good for you.
It reduces the chance of allergies.

 

[Swarm]

True.






Honey never hurt our two

 

[Finman]

6 hives is not much to ensure continuous selling

 

[jeff33]

That's my excuse for not doing much in terms of house cleaning... The cleaner the more likely to get an allergy.

Finman, I haven't updated my info, I have a few more now.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bloody hell .. I was brought up playing on bomb sites, we swam and fished in the local canal, I put pennies on the railway lines for the steam trains to squash, we ate berries and fruit we picked in the hedgerows without washing it and what was better than sitting with a bucket and spade making mud pies from the garden soil ....and I got a bath every week whether I needed it or not ?

I wonder, sometimes, whether we are just a bit too clean and sanitised .. I cannot remember a single kid at my school having any sort of an allergy .. apart from perhaps cross country running and homework !

I understand from the news that the levels of antibiotics now in our water courses and ponds are so high that there are strains of bacteria that are now completely immune to most of the common antibiotics ...open water swimmers are being warned !

PS: I'm not advocating feeding honey to infants ... I always warn people who buy my honey if they have babies in tow.

So was the shoe box you lived in at the side of the road, or the middle

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not trying to minimise the risk from honey but here’s a snip from that articleThe harmful bacteria can also be found in dust, dirt, and sometimes the air. So, it is important to avoid young children’s exposure to contaminated soil found on construction and agriculture sites

oh dear - I'm doomed, if I wasn't playing out in whichever uncle's farmyard we were visiting, I was tagging along behind my dad at building sites!!

 

[Millet]

6 hives is not much to ensure continuous selling

Remind me of what bees you keep Finny..you keep Banging on about Re Queening... i do it when the need arises which gives me too much to sell..so the thought arose i may need less productive bees..(Queen's)..

 

[pargyle]

So was the shoe box you lived in at the side of the road, or the middle

No .. I was one of the lucky ones .. we had a house ! With a flushing toilet of our own (albeit outside in the wash house). No central heating, lino on the bedroom floor and so cold in winter the inside of the windows frosted up.

The Canal was across the road in the front of the house and the LMS railway line at the bottom of our garden. The soil in the garden was black with the years of soot from the railway and within 200 yards in one direction was Dale Browns Glass works and 200 yards in the other Yorkshire Tar Distillers ...

Mind you, there was no traffic because nobody had a car .. and the corporation buses were electric trackless trams ...

 

[ShinySideUp]

I think that's sage advice. Unless you're a limited company it will be difficult to protect your worldly possessions should anything go wrong. All you need is something like this incident to happen without suitable warnings on your labels and things could get very sticky if you don't have public liability insurance:

https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/wellbeing-news/six-month-old-baby-dies-honey-490746

As most of us are casual sellers of honey to family, friends, friends of friends, I can't see this being a problem. There is no sign on the side of a road telling you not to run in front of cars (but they do), there is no sign on an aeroplane door telling you not to jump out without a parachute (but they do) and there is no sign on my honey telling people not to feed their babies honey (and they may well do). IMHO I believe honey to be an edible product that the consumer has to decide how to keep and how to use. What, for example, would the courts think if someone smeared my honey on the soles of their feet (I don't know why, people do all sorts of weird things) then slipped and fell breaking their backs; am I still liable? I doubt it.