TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services prohibited any additives, chemicals or adulterants in honey produced, processed or sold in Florida effective July 14. The move by Commissioner Charles H. Bronson is believed to be the first regulation in the nation prohibiting additives in honey.
Under terms of the new regulation, honey containing anything other than the “natural food product resulting from the harvest of nectar by honeybees” is considered an adulterated or mislabeled product. Such products are subject to a “stop sale” order—one in which a manufacturer, processor or merchant would be served with an order prohibiting the product’s sale. Repeat offenders face fines of up to $500 per violation.
“We want to assure consumers that the product that they are buying is pure,” Bronson said. “Too often in the past, honey has been cut with water or sugar, and sometimes even contaminated with insecticides or antibiotics. In the future, when you’re paying for honey in this state, pure honey is what you will get.”
