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Rosti

Drone Bee
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
1,755
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14
Location
North Yorks, UK
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
4
Until now I have operated with 'the list' of those I give my honey to. 'The list' seemed to be becomming more tenuous (and another beekeeping outlay rather than a cost neutral favour) as time has gone on :D
I decided to put a 'Local Honey for sale' sign up outside the house, it went up saturday pm, today I sold the 25th jar. Amazing interest and some nice people to boot! Well worth a punt if anyone is unsure whether to try it. No problems, no weirdo's, no door knocks at strange times of the day.
Now the downside ... I am in southern France on business, my wife has dealt with the 'customers' there is mention of a clothing purchase taxon honey sales, what's that then? May well be more than the revenue from the honey :coolgleamA: c'est la vie!
 
I had hoped to sell at the door, but our property has a covenant which states that no business can be run from the premises, so not sure if this counts. Also, my pension rules state that as I retired on ill-health, should I make an income my pension will be stopped - does income from a hobby count?? Life is sooo confusing...
 
As a small producer of surplus product, any sales I might make would only reduce the amount of 'loss' if it were run as a business. The taxman would be owing me money!
I hate to think how many colonies one would need to break even, let alone make a profit.

In other words, if I ran my beekeeping as a business, it would soon go broke!

Regards, RAB
 
Ta RAB, that's how I feel - but there are some real 'jobs-worths' in the road - and I can't risk stirring them up...I can't afford the legal bills!!
 
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but our property has a covenant which states that no business

So doe's mine- but this is small fry- they mean having a shop with opening hours or a residential home for elderly etc...
I have sold honey from my door for 4 years- neighbours are fine- free bee lessons thrown in:biggrinjester:
 
Chap opposite worked from home, but needed paperwork to be delivered weekly - certain neighbours threatened legal action...
 
who knows the details of your pension payment? you are not working just selling some surplus. the income certainly isn't going to match previous salary even on top of pension! do your neighbours buy honey off you?
 
i dont sell from home, but i do sell from the allotment shed to al the other guys up at the bee shed.

i also used to supply a health food shop but we had a gentlemans aggrement that he was able to get the honey on a sell then pay system were i used to go in once a week and collect the takings from my honey sales
 
Queens, sorry to hear your predicament but I firmly agree with the other guys, I'll never make a profit, just slightly off set some costs, so you dont have an income, just a slightly cheaper hobby! Easy to prove to any jobs worth I think?

Sad you have to think this way but in case any mini-hitlers come out of the woodwork to complain about the sign (a mini WBC hanging from an 'L' bar) I have also taken pictures of all other signs and 'items' already in place outside other houses on the main street to ensure 'balance' there's not that many but enough to make the point if needs be.

That said, nothing but positive contact and interest in bees so far.
 
I thought you had to conform to all kinds of regulations before you could sell your honey??

I've kind of got round it with friends by selling them an empty jar and then filling it for honey for "free"

The same goes for my soap making hobby. Friends buy the ingredients and I turn them into soap (various legislations due to using caustic soda in the process)
 
SusieB, you are being over-cautious. As a small scale producer of honey there are very few regulations and those are mostly about labelling. If you do it on an industrial scale then books of regulations do apply but not on a small scale. It is the same with members of the WI selling cakes at the local fete. Mr Kipling has to comply but not Mrs Kipling selling a tray of fudge.

Cosmetics are more difficult but the main thing is to have traceability and to have records of where all your ingredients come from.

Local trading standards organisations around the country seem to interpret the rules differently so if you are worried you could get in touch with yours and explain what you want to do. However, when asked a question civil servants and the like tend to give the answer which is safest - i.e. that there will be all sorts of rules you need to follow but had you not asked the question you could have got away with it.
 
I thought you had to conform to all kinds of regulations before you could sell your honey??

You do, but it is not onerous for a food as fundamentally stable as honey and registration with the local authority food safety teaam was simple, painless and free; the guys were supportive.
 
Thanks for that
Maybe I'll look into it a bit more but it's just for friends and family at the moment
 
info about selling honey should be part of the final lesson in any balanced training course. ;)
 
susie B

actually for once there is very little regulation - see BBKA booklet: http://************************/files/selling_honey_B10.pdf

your own capped honey, from supers removed before any treatments, extracted with clean equipment, will meet the requirements of the regs.

Main concern is correct jar sizes and proper labelling - which you will be having to comply with if you exhibit at shows anyway.
 
Assuming that the thought police are just concerned with URLs rather than stopping people finding stuff, I found it by Googling: honey selling bbka.

Interesting, thanks. And apparently written last June so it should be up to date.

G.
 
You might find that the covenant is not enforcable... I know somebody who had a covenant on their house that said they couldnt have a caravan in the front garden, but he got one anyway after doing a bit of checking. It seems that covenants are mostly put in by the builders so as to keep purchasers happy that other neighbours aint going to put caravans in their garden.. and nothing to do with the council....
In my friends case, a nice neighbour huffed and puffed and threatened legal action but nothing could be done because the builder said he couldnt be bothered as the houses had been built quite a few yers ago. Also builders tend to go out of business quite regularly anyway........
 
actually for once there is very little regulation - see BBKA booklet: http://************************/files/selling_honey_B10.pdf

your own capped honey, from supers removed before any treatments, extracted with clean equipment, will meet the requirements of the regs.

Main concern is correct jar sizes and proper labelling - which you will be having to comply with if you exhibit at shows anyway.

.... and the primary food safety controls required which are principally associated with foreign body control in particular pre-inspection of glass jars and honey filtration ..... HACCP validation docs required.
 
.... and the primary food safety controls required which are principally associated with foreign body control in particular pre-inspection of glass jars and honey filtration ..... HACCP validation docs required.

so wassat in engrish, I is a bit fick and think that you are getting a bit carried away with the idea of regulation :eek:
 
I is a bit fick and think that you are getting a bit carried away with the idea of regulation :eek:

Far from it Taff on both counts I suspect. There is no law that says we have to keep our bees alive, there is a law that says we have to take all due diligence and reasonable precations to keep our family, friends (and if we chose) customers alive - whether or not they pay for the honey!
HACCP is hazard analysis and critical control points. It is summarised in international codex and written into the EU Food Safety Law - it works in our favour for once and it's a darn sight easier than most things in beekeeping! It simply means consider the food safety risks of extracting and bottling honey and think about how to control them - with records to prove you understand. Remember the reason you have to register as a food business to sell honey is not for trading standards it is under food safety legislation, that is why registration is through the local authority food safety team not the TSO.
Without public liability insurance (and who among us have that!) the approval of your local authority is a very powerful defence weapon to protect us against some numpty who thinks they can make a quick buck and sue us for allegedly cutting their mouth on glass from one of our bottles for example. A sad reflection on society possibly but true, comparable to why we have BBKA insurance for stings etc.
 
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