The Great Honey Heist !

[BrianO]

Hivemaker
Pleaaasseeee leave for a while here! , worth people reading... wont get read elsewhere and it is a " Burning " issue in our world of Beekeeping !
Cheers !

Great Heading Goran in the Honey Topics Forum !

Small talk, Small Beeks, Small Honey prices

Says it all.

It infuriates mew to see the SH1TE they sell as Honey in the multiples and then the subdued price we are presurised therefore to sell our Premium, High Quality Honey at.

There is so much wrong with this it is hard to know where to start.

The whole commercial industry stinks, and is unregulated.

So, take Ireland, go into any of the multiples and see " Irish Honey " for sale, or Honey purporting to be Irish Honey with wonderful Irish Brand names such as " Begorra Begorra, Soft Day Thank God Honey " for ridiculously low prices.... 2, euros and I have seen for less for 340G.

Look at the small print and your lovely "IRISH " Honey is a

Blend of EU and Non EU Honey.

Now for 95% of stressed out shoppers they look at that, and to use that wonderful marketing line assume " It does exactly what it says on the Tin ! " as in it is Irish Honey emanating from Irish Bee Hives !

Why not ?? Thats what it says " On the Tin "

Dig deeper and your " Begora Begorra Soft Day Thank God " labelled Irish honey is of course EU and Non EU origin.

So now as a consumer ( if you've got Bionic vision and can find this nugget of information on the label ) your interest is piqued.

You now want to know, well if its not Irish ( substitute " English " ) where does it originate ??.... but NO... you don't even get to find out where in the EU/Non EU are the countries of origin, and worse.... what is the % of EU Honey Vs.Non EU Honey ?

So they sell this SH1TE for cheap prices and we, Artisan Skilled Suppliers who have studied to learn our craft, and produce a fine, locally produced, unadulterated, proven to be healthy product, sell it for pittance relative to its level of quality and the actual Man ( and Woman ! ) hours invested to bring it to the consumer !. ... and worse we put up with it !

What do we do... grumble amongst ourselves...

What should we do... write to the relevant bodies, authorities, media outlets and discuss with anyone who will listen to get the message out there and educate.

There is an excellent article in An Beachaire this month ( our Beekeeping Monthly Journal ) on just this subject I would recomend you read if you can.

Has a slightly different slant to the above and correctly focuses on the Great " Manuka " Heist ! ( my title, not their's ) but makes for fascinating reading.

I suspect we all, me included would actively partake in the " Grumbling " and telling people we know, on a small scale about the truths in this industry, but why do we not do more ?? Why do the Beekeeping governing bodies not do more ?

I for one plan to shift my Butt and start contacting relevant bodies to see if I can get a bit of publicity, if a large amount of Beeks did the same we might get the message across !

Hardly a call to arms to Save the Planet, but would help bring my Blood Pressure down whilst I peruse the supermarket aisles looking at ever cheaper Micro Filtered, Heat Treated Sugar Syrup masquerading as Premium Honey !!!

 

[Hivemaker.]

It infuriates mew to see the SH1TE they sell as Honey in the multiples and then the subdued price we are presurised therefore to sell our Premium, High Quality Honey at.

How much do you sell your honey for?

 

[BrianO]

How much do you sell your honey for?

Nothing as yet,

Year 2 . Haul 75lbs this year.

Going to wait to see what I have left in the New Year as I have 2 Honey Badgers as kids, and a wife who inhales the stuff whenever the latest cold virus strikes. Plus friends who jump at the opportunity to sample a free jar.

I will sell it next year, as will have double the number of hives , providing I do not experience bad winter losses and we have a half decent season.

I have plans to increase hives , but as per the post would like to be rewarded with reasonable prices, as I am sure we all would.

I love the hobby and am not in it to make money, but do not want to sell honey at low prices either.

I , like all, spend a lot of time and efforet to manage my hives, and believe that the price of local unadulterated honey should reflect this effort and the general buying public should know the facts, and be afforded thus the opportunity to make an educated choice.

If they know the background to mass produced imported Honey and choose to buy the jar of honey ultimately emmanating from China or India, super processed, that might or might not be made by bees being fed heavily on sugar syrup that is OK... but suppliers should not be allowed miss sell the product.

To give you an answer.

I think a 340G jar of local honey should retail for minimum € 10.00 Plus, and the plus could comfortably, without any pangs of guilt extend up to € 15.00

 

[Hivemaker.]

I love the hobby and am not in it to make money, but do not want to sell honey at low prices either.

I don't see anyone on this forum selling their honey too cheap.

We import around 90% of the honey we need, so cannot meet demand, but some of the local offerings in small shops i have seen look disgusting, scum, crystallizing, fermenting, bits in it (lord knows what of) badly labelled, would not want it if they were giving it away.

Would you like to see it all priced like this...so only the rich could afford to buy it. https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/new-fortnum-s-bermondsey-honey?taxon_id=50

 

[beebot]

Still selling mine for £5 for 1lB jar. Probably too cheap but I make my own labels and use cheap jars. Will have to be more next year.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

What BrianO has said is unfortunately essentially true.
There is also a wonderful margin on inverted bee syrup, (continental style bee keeping, - a delightful euphemism).

 

[jfullerton]

Too cheap.....recent sales here, (admittedly market type stalls) £8 for a pound jar, £6 for a half pound jar, and £4 for a quarter pound jar. My thoughts were: 'that won't sell at that price', but the quarter pound jars were the first to sell out..!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

around £5.00 for a 12oz jar is about right around here - £6.00 in Swansea. trouble is around here the local larger scale beekeeper sell it at a stupidly low price

 

[BrianO]

I don't see anyone on this forum selling their honey too cheap.

We import around 90% of the honey we need, so cannot meet demand, but some of the local offerings in small shops i have seen look disgusting, scum, crystallizing, fermenting, bits in it (lord knows what of) badly labelled, would not want it if they were giving it away.

Would you like to see it all priced like this...so only the rich could afford to buy it. https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/new-fortnum-s-bermondsey-honey?taxon_id=50

Nothing to do with Rich affording to buy it,

About a fair price relative to time and effort and quality of product.

Can the rich afford to pay for 20 cigs a day or a takeaway for the price of a premium jar of honey, that is distracting from the core issue, quality product not commanding a fair price . Nothing to do with exclusive shops such as Fortnum or Selfridges or the likes of.

Of corse if it is produced without due attention to quality , filtering etc it should not sell, but your experience in relation to what you have seen is at odds with mine.

Have seen many jars produced and can honestly say all but one Beek I know produces an excellent high quality product, no scum, no detritus no nothing but premium honey carefully bottled.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Nothing to do with Rich affording to buy it,

Only if they happen to be poor.

Can the rich afford to pay for 20 cigs a day or a takeaway for the price of a premium jar of honey

Of course they can...they are rich.

 

[Roola]

Brian, absolutely agree with everything you have written and thank you for not only raising this but actually doing something about it. It makes my blood boil when selling honey and people comment that it seems 'a bit dear' or 'I can get it in tescos much cheaper than that'. I think the problem is that firstly people don't consider where their honey comes from, they don't look at country of origin. Secondly some people are too used to buying the £1 jar of honey which for all intents and purposes tastes like sugar syrup and have no appreciation of how superior raw local honey is in comparison. Thirdly, like you said I think little is known of the time and effort that goes in to caring for the bees, the extraction, jarring etc... and the costs of equipment and treatments...

Lastly there are many who I feel undersell their product... beekeepers sell their honey far to cheaply to the public which then devalues it for everyone else. Speaking to a number of people in my local association it is good to hear we are all selling our honey for around the same price, one which feel is fair.

 

[Jazzygem]

We will only have a few hives as not into commercial. We use honey by the gallon and we stocked up with plenty at our local grocer's paying 10 euros a jar. Best stuff out. no colds or flu's in this house soo far. It was from a local bee keeper. we'll be keeping our own honey next year as I believe its a precious commodity . On buying 'real 'irish' honey, we also only buy vegetable's such as spuds and like, grown local, which I believe everyone should do. We are only on low incomes so if we can afford it so can everyone else. Im a firm believer in supporting local trade.

 

[peterbees]

I don't see anyone on this forum selling their honey too cheap.

We import around 90% of the honey we need, so cannot meet demand, but some of the local offerings in small shops i have seen look disgusting, scum, crystallizing, fermenting, bits in it (lord knows what of) badly labelled, would not want it if they were giving it away.

Would you like to see it all priced like this...so only the rich could afford to buy it. https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/new-fortnum-s-bermondsey-honey?taxon_id=50

I note that Fortnum's website does not specify the weight of Hoxton or Bermondsey honey...

 

[For want of a better word]

Still selling mine for £5 for 1lB jar. Probably too cheap but I make my own labels and use cheap jars. Will have to be more next year.

Half pound hex jar £4.80

New jars and lid.
Professionally produced labeling with individually serialised and recorded lot and batch and apiary labels*, anti tamper seal.
All to latest honey regs.

Would not now risk making own labels and using cheap jars... but used to do just that some years back... then gave most of the honey away to friends and relatives as a very good and welcome Christmas present!

* some very good waterproof label machines now on market... labels are not cheap... nor are the printers!

Yeghes da

 

[Into the lions den]

What BrianO has said is unfortunately essentially true.
There is also a wonderful margin on inverted bee syrup, (continental style bee keeping, - a delightful euphemism).

I would want to see a scan of the labelling.

If it states it to be 'Irish honey' and then further down has the 'blend of EU and non EU honeys' then it is blatantly illegal.

EU honey rules are perfectly clear. If a claim is made as to the origin of the honey then that claim must be true.

The penalties for false labelling are severe, and devastating to a reputation.

The syrup feeding for crop is another matter altogether, and undoubtedly happens to some extent in many places.

 

[BrianO]

I don't see anyone on this forum selling their honey too cheap.

We import around 90% of the honey we need, so cannot meet demand, but some of the local offerings in small shops i have seen look disgusting, scum, crystallizing, fermenting, bits in it (lord knows what of) badly labelled, would not want it if they were giving it away.

Would you like to see it all priced like this...so only the rich could afford to buy it. https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/new-fortnum-s-bermondsey-honey?taxon_id=50

I would want to see a scan of the labelling.

If it states it to be 'Irish honey' and then further down has the 'blend of EU and non EU honeys' then it is blatantly illegal.

EU honey rules are perfectly clear. If a claim is made as to the origin of the honey then that claim must be true.

The penalties for false labelling are severe, and devastating to a reputation.

The syrup feeding for crop is another matter altogether, and undoubtedly happens to some extent in many places.

Indeed , must check that maybe I am incorrect regarding the terminology, don't think so, but would not be the first time I erred. Will check it out and report back , as they say.

Leaving that aside ILTD, would be interested in your point if view as a commercial enterprise, what is you're opinion on my post re the price commanded for the specific product that is, in your case English Raw Unprocessed Honey ?

 

[BrianO]

BTW Thanks Hivemaker for leaving this in this forum, where it can be seen by many, read and commented on by all who wish , as it is important for those who sell their product.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

I recall a speaker at an Irish Farmers Association meeting discussing what could legally be called "Irish Beef" under EU legislation. In essence, any beef whatever it's origin, if processed in this country could be described as Irish.
The situation with honey is apparently not dissimilar.
The availability of inverted syrup has dramatically increased some honey crops, obviously it pays to feed bees for winter!

 

[Swarm]

Best to stay small scale and rely on word of mouth, once you get into bulk supply you have to make allowance for mark up. Demand always exceeds supply (especially this year, lol) and we sell mainly 12oz jars, which go for £5.

We have to be realistic though, I've tasted a fair amount of beekeepers honey and not all of it was great, (some was awful) so worth honest appraisal of our product.
Back in 2008 I had some glorious, amber Spring honey and Lime in late Summer. 2012 was a bad year and the honey was just average.....

 

[Hivemaker.]

The situation with honey is apparently not dissimilar.

Could be bad news for all those supermarkets in Ireland selling imported honey as Irish honey.

...

A COUPLE who bought cheap honey and sold it to shopkeepers falsely claiming it was made in Norfolk have been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 costs.

William Baker, 59, and his wife Lynn, 55, from Bury St Edmunds, carried out a “deliberate and dishonest scam” by using honey from countries such as Argentina and China in their product, a court heard.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/honey_scam_couple_fined_1_75289