Upcoming changes in the origin labelling for honey

Percentages of the countries of origin of honey in future instead of "EU/non-EU"

Feb 2024. The current mandatory labelling of the origin of honey placed on the market only provides an imprecise indication of the country or countries of origin. Against this background, the European Council and the European Parliament published a press release on 31 January 2024 on the future mandatory labelling of honey ^[1]. It foresees the indication of the country or countries of origin on the honey packaging.

We determine the type and origin of your honey using microscopic pollen analysis.

Why is a change in origin labelling imminent?

Honey is a valuable and popular natural product. To meet demand, around 80% of German honey is imported from other countries. Both, imported and domestic honey must meet all the legal requirements of the European Honey Regulation.

Local beekeepers are under increasing competitive and price pressure from cheaper and allegedly inferior imported honey from outside the EU. The current labelling requirement does not allow consumers to make an informed choice about the country of origin as it is not explicitly stated. As a result, the European Union is planning to introduce stricter guidelines for the labelling of honey.

What is changing?

At the end of January 2024, the European Parliament and the countries of the European Union agreed to not only identify the exact origin of honey, but also to indicate the percentage of honey from each country on the packaging of honey. The countries of origin of honey blends must be listed on the label in descending order, with the percentage of each country's origin. The EU countries emphasised that individual countries can decide whether the obligation to indicate the percentage on the label applies only to the four largest proportions.

How to determine the proportion of each country in the honey blend?

Eurofins Food Integrity Control Services GmbH is the Competence Centre for Honey Analysis of the German Eurofins Food & Feed Testing laboratory network and assists you in verifying the countries of origin and their proportions. We use globally recognised microscopic pollen analysis to determine the type and origin of your honey. For example, we compare your sample with the individual samples of raw materials you have provided, stating the mixing ratio, to confirm the accuracy of the labelling.

This is the aim of the new guidelines:

provide additional information on country of origin to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions
protect consumers from poor quality honey
reduce fraudulent practices and increase transparency in the food chain
establish a traceability system and a reference laboratory to improve controls and detect fraud through systematic testing

Do you have any questions?

If you have any questions about the legal requirements for labelling honey or honey analysis, please get in touch with your personal account manager or contact our expert Dr Ghalia Kassem.

Relevant source:

[1] European Commission press release on the mandatory labelling of honey, among other things