Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health whether he plans to introduce legislation to provide improved labelling of country of origin on jars of honey.
Minister of Health: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Northern Ireland holds policy responsibility for food compositional standards and labelling. Current rules require that all food information and labelling, including country-of-origin information, shall not mislead the consumer.
There are specific rules covering country-of-origin labelling for honey. A person may not trade in honey unless the country-of-origin where the honey has been harvested is indicated on the label. Currently, blends of honey from more than one country may be labelled as ‘blend of EC honeys’, ‘blend of non-EC honeys’, or ‘blend of EC and non-EC honeys.’
The EU has published a Directive introducing new rules on country-of-origin labelling for honey blends, which will apply to honey producers from 14 June 2026. The FSA is working towards transposing the new requirements by 14 December 2025, subject to the Northern Ireland legislative process.
The main mandatory change relates to increased transparency in origin labelling of honey blends. The new rules require food businesses to list all countries-of-origin, in descending order of weight including the percentage.
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