Order No. 1503 on honey.

This Order regulates the product designation, labelling, composition and quality requirements for honey and honey products intended for human consumption. It defines honey as the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from plant nectar, plant secretions or excretions of plant-sucking insects, and prohibits the addition of food ingredients, additives or other substances to products marketed as honey. It establishes compositional requirements, including limits on sugar content, water content, insoluble matter, acidity, electrical conductivity, diastase activity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and sets rules for different honey types such as blossom honey, honeydew honey, comb honey, drained honey, extracted honey, pressed honey and baker’s honey. The Order also requires country-of-origin labelling, special labelling for baker’s honey, and a warning on retail honey packages that honey should not be given to children under one year of age. It implements EU honey rules, and provides penalties for non-compliance, while allowing products lawfully placed on the market or labelled before that date to continue being marketed until stocks are exhausted.