The Department does not collect data on the amount and proportion of mechanically dried honey sold as honey in the UK. However, we do regularly collect UK honey import trade data.

The Government recognises the importance of protecting food standards and has set minimum quality standards for many foods, including honey. All honey on sale, regardless of where it comes from must comply with the Honey Regulations 2015 which set out detailed specifications of its composition, labelling, and quality criteria. These are robust standards which aim to protect honey, ensuring that it meets a set definition and characteristics.

Defra works closely with enforcement authorities who are responsible for enforcing our honey laws, the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) National Food Crime Unit, Food Standards Scotland’s (FSS) Food Crime and Incidents Unit, local and port health authorities, industry and others on investigating any potential fraud issues raised, to ensure honey sold in the UK meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers. Enforcement authorities also routinely test honey for compliance with the honey regulations.

Defra and the FSA also support a programme of research dedicated to honey authenticity where it is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses.

Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey was transposed in each of the four UK nations through the relevant domestic Honey Regulations.

Directive (EU) 2024/1438 creates additional requirements relating to country of origin labelling for blended honey and ensuring honey authenticity. The UK has a thriving and diverse honey market which gives consumers access to a wide range of products, from mono-floral varieties to single country origins as well as blended honeys, at a wide range of price points.

Directive (EU) 2024/1438 applies in Northern Ireland under Annex 2 of the Windsor Framework. The Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland recently issued a public consultation on the transposition and enforcement of Directive 2024/1438 with respect to honey which closed on 14 May 2025. The responses are currently being assessed.

At the UK-EU Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU agreed work towards an UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (‘SPS Agreement’) to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The scope of the agreement remains subject to negotiation but is expected to include key marketing and compositional standards, including rules on honey. Common rules on honey would pave the way for easier and smoother trading both across the UK and with the EU.

Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey was transposed in each of the four UK nations through the relevant domestic Honey Regulations.

Directive (EU) 2024/1438 creates additional requirements relating to country of origin labelling for blended honey and ensuring honey authenticity. The UK has a thriving and diverse honey market which gives consumers access to a wide range of products, from mono-floral varieties to single country origins as well as blended honeys, at a wide range of price points.

Directive (EU) 2024/1438 applies in Northern Ireland under Annex 2 of the Windsor Framework. The Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland recently issued a public consultation on the transposition and enforcement of Directive 2024/1438 with respect to honey which closed on 14 May 2025. The responses are currently being assessed.

At the UK-EU Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU agreed work towards an UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (‘SPS Agreement’) to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The scope of the agreement remains subject to negotiation but is expected to include key marketing and compositional standards, including rules on honey. Common rules on honey would pave the way for easier and smoother trading both across the UK and with the EU.

The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey mislabelling. It recognises the importance of protecting food standards and has set minimum quality standards for many foods, including honey. All honey on sale must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 which set out detailed specifications of its composition, labelling, and quality criteria.

Defra works closely with enforcement authorities and with the National Food Crime Unit to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration or mislabelling, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.

Defra has an active programme of research dedicated to honey authenticity testing best practice to ensure fitness for purpose and use of standardised approaches to support enforcement of honey labelling rules.

The Honey (England) Regulations 2015 lay down detailed specifications for honey in terms of its composition and quality criteria. One of the aims of these is to protect the use of the reserved description “honey” by setting a minimum expected compositional standard for our market, in order to protect consumers, instil consumer confidence that the honey is what it says it is, create a level playing field for industry, and prevent misleading and fraudulent practices on our market.

Defra periodically reviews food compositional standards legislation to ensure regulations remain fit for purpose. A post-implementation review of the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 in 2021 found that the policy objectives stated in the regulations have been fully realised.

As a result of the review, the definition of honey as a reserved description, the description of different types of honey, and the listing of its minimum compositional standards have remained in place.

Defra carries out scientific research in partnership with the Food Standards Agency to help improve testing methods help address honey adulteration.

The Honey (England) Regulations 2015 lay down detailed specifications which honey must comply with regarding its composition and quality criteria. They mandate that honey cannot be sold in England unless the country of origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label. However, for reasons of practicality special provisions apply to ‘blended’ honeys, where honey producers can opt for alternative wording indicating that the honey is a blend from more than one country.

Defra works closely with enforcement authorities, responsible for enforcing our honey laws on investigating any potential fraud issues raised, to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.

Defra, alongside the Food Standards Agency in Wales and Food Standards Scotland, are working together to assess and address issues arising from the EU’s recent amendments relating to the Honey Directive 2001/110/EC. Any decision on future policy will focus on maintaining our existing high food standards, protecting consumers, and supporting businesses and consumer choice.

The National Food Crime Unit’s 2024 strategic assessment of food crime concluded it is unlikely that adulterated honey is broadly present on the UK market. All honey on sale must meet the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 which lay down detailed specifications for honey in terms of its composition and quality criteria. The Government keeps its rules under continuous review to ensure they continue to meet their objective and protect consumers.

Honey authenticity analysis is challenging due to natural variations in honey composition and harvesting practices. No single test can definitively determine a honey’s authenticity.

The Government has an active programme of research dedicated to standardising and improving honey authenticity testing, working to support monitoring and enforcement to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. This includes enabling ways to validate testing approaches to assess compliance to ensure they are fit for purpose including use of a weight of evidence approach.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

A person must not use “honey” in trade as the name of a product if the product is not honey.

Consequently, for a product to be called “Honey” it must be 100% honey and comply with the appropriate compositional criteria for “honey” specified in Schedule 1 of The Honey (England) Regulations 2015.

It is estimated that less than 20% of the honey sold in the UK is produced domestically. To date contingency action has been taken against incursions of Asian hornet into the UK since the first occurrence in 2016. From detailed analysis of all the Asian hornet nests found in the UK between 2016 and 2022 there is no evidence to suggest that Asian hornets are established in the UK. Therefore, the impact on UK honey production is thought to be minimal.

Nevertheless, we recognise that if Asian hornet were to become established in the UK, it is likely that there would be significant impacts on honey bees and wild pollinators. This is why we continue to take contingency action against all credible sightings of Asian hornet.

Pollinators are a priority for this government, and we are taking action alongside many partners to implement the National Pollinator Strategy’s provisions. The National Pollinator Strategy Action Plan was published in May 2022 and sets out more specifically how we will continue to act to fulfil the vision, aims and objectives of the Strategy over the period 2021-2024, including in relation to tackling the threats from non-native invasive species like the Asian hornet.

The Government is confident that the labelling requirements for honey are adequate. All honey on sale in England must comply with the labelling requirements set out in the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 and the general food information to consumers labelling rules.

Although the Government has no immediate plans to change the rules on honey labelling, we keep all laws under review as part of our commitment to carry out post implementation reviews.  We will consider the need for further labelling measures as part of the next review of the honey regulations which is due by 2025.

All honey on sale in England, regardless of where it comes from, must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015. The general requirement in regulation 17 of the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 is that honey cannot be sold in England unless the country of origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label.

However, for reasons of practicality special provisions apply to ‘blended’ honeys where honey producers can opt for alternative wording indicating that the honey is a blend from more than one country. The mix of different honeys in blended honeys may change frequently throughout the year, depending on availability, price, and seasonality of the various types of honey. Requiring producers to change their labels for every alteration would place additional burdens and lead to increased prices and packaging waste.

Although the Government has no immediate plans to change the rules on honey labelling, we keep all laws under review as part of our commitment to carry out post implementation reviews. We will consider the need for further labelling measures as part of the next review of the honey regulations which is due by 2025.

Honey should not be adulterated by any means, and the law states that nothing should be added or taken away. Adulterated honey is not permitted for sale under any circumstances.

All honey on sale in the UK must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015, with equivalent legislation applying across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This legislation sets out detailed specifications for composition, labelling, and quality criteria.

The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration.

We are working closely with Food Standards Agency to follow-up on recent reports in an EU survey where a small number of exported honey samples exported via the UK were flagged as suspicious for adulteration with added sugars. We will act immediately if we find any wrongdoing as part of the investigation. Honey is a complex natural product and analysis to determine if honey has been adulterated can be challenging. The Government has a programme of research dedicated to verifying honey authenticity which is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses.

The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration. Defra works closely with enforcement authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the National Food Crime Unit on investigating any fraud issues raised to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.

Honey is a complex natural product and analysis to determine if honey has been adulterated can be challenging. The Government has a programme of research dedicated to verifying honey authenticity which is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. We are working closely with Food Standards Agency to follow-up on recent reports in an EU survey where a small number of exported honey samples were flagged as suspicious for adulteration with added sugars. We will act immediately if we find any wrongdoing as part of our investigation.

The UK Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration. Defra works closely with enforcement authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the National Food Crime Unit to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers.

The UK welcomes the EU’s study assessing adulteration of honey with added sugars. There is no place for adulterated honey which undermines consumer confidence and disadvantages responsible businesses acting within the law.

We are working closely with the Food Standards Agency to follow up on the small number of honey samples, exported via the UK, which were flagged as suspicious for adulteration with added sugars. We will need to await the outcome of these enquiries before drawing any definitive conclusions relating to the UK results. We will act immediately if we find any wrongdoing as part of the investigation

Honey is a complex natural and variable product, meaning analysis can often be challenging. There are a range of different techniques available to ensure compliance with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015, which are like those in place in the EU. No single test can definitively determine a honey’s authenticity and a weight of evidence approach, including traceability investigation, is often needed regardless of the results of laboratory testing.

We support the EU’s call for increased efforts and cooperation in developing harmonised methods for detecting added sugars in honey. The Government has an active programme of research dedicated to honey authenticity, working to support monitoring and enforcement and to protect consumers and legitimate businesses.

Local Authorities (LAs) are requested to submit details of prosecutions they have made to the Food Standards Agency. In the last five years the Government has not been made aware of any prosecutions of honey producers misrepresenting honey they have sold.

Responsibility for assessing business compliance with the majority of food legislation rests with LAs. They will consider any areas of non-compliance with food law and take appropriate enforcement action in line with a hierarchy, risk-based approach to ensure the business takes the necessary steps to achieve compliance. Each situation will be judged on its own merits by the relevant LA to determine the proportionate course of action.

The Honey (England) Regulations 2015 lay down strict rules that honey must comply with in terms of quality and compositional criteria. Regulation 19 applies, with modifications, section 10 of the Food Safety Act 1990 to enable Improvement Notices to be served on a Food Business Operator where a LA has reasonable grounds for believing that they have not complied with the requirements of the legislation. Improvement notices should provide a roadmap to compliance and would be issued as part of the escalation of enforcement in line with the LA’s hierarchy of enforcement.

Honey fraud is taken very seriously and will always be fully investigated. For example, allegations in the media that a small number of specific blended honeys sold in the UK were fraudulent have been fully investigated by the relevant LAs and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to indicate fraud or non-compliance. The Government is confident the honey regulations and enforcement of those regulations are fit for purpose.

Local Authorities (LAs) are responsible for enforcement of the honey regulations, including in relation to honey imported into the UK. Honey is considered a product of animal origin and is also subject to additional checks and testing by Port Health Authorities on entry into the UK.

Honey is a complex natural product, meaning analysis can often be challenging. No single test can definitively determine a honey’s authenticity, but there are a range of different analytical methods and techniques available to help ensure compliance with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015. By law public analysts are responsible for deciding which tests to use but honey importers and packers will also use a range of testing methods themselves to ensure what they are buying is authentic and complies with UK rules. Tests range from simple chemical testing to isotope ratio analysis and pollen analysis to more complex techniques using nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy. Wherever possible any method used to determine honey authenticity should be internationally recognised and validated.

In some instances, LAs will use a weight of evidence approach when assessing if honey is compliant with UK rules ensuring a robust opinion that is not simply based on the result of one test but on a toolbox of multiple analytical tools, input data, product traceability and record reviews.

All honey on sale in England, regardless of where it comes from, must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015. The general requirement in regulation 17 of the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 is that honey cannot be sold in England unless the country of origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label.

However, for reasons of practicality special provisions apply to ‘blended’ honeys where honey producers can opt for alternative wording indicating that the honey is a blend from more than one country. The mix of different honeys in blended honeys may change frequently throughout the year, depending on availability, price, and seasonality of the various types of honey. Requiring producers to change their labels for every alteration would place additional burdens and likely lead to increased prices and packaging waste.

The Government keeps all its laws under constant review as part of its commitment to carry out post implementation reviews. We will consider the need for further labelling measures as part of the next review of the honey regulations which is due by 2025.

This Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey adulteration. Defra works closely with enforcement authorities who are responsible for enforcing our honey laws, the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) National Food Crime Unit, Food Standards Scotland’s (FSS) Food Crime and Incidents Unit, local and port health authorities, industry and others on investigating any potential fraud issues raised, to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers. Imported honey is subject to additional checks as a product of animal origin and routine testing is carried out to ensure that honey entering the UK meets the required rules.

The Government has a programme of research dedicated to honey authenticity where it is actively working to provide information and guidance to those carrying out monitoring and enforcement checks on honey, to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. This programme focuses on disseminating information on honey authenticity, supporting work on analytical testing methods, ensuring their fitness for purpose and standardising approaches.