Can my Country export honey to the EU?

Residues of antibiotic drugs in honey are illegal and must not be present. Any misuse will bear serious consequences for the country of supply. This was demonstrated with the import ban of honey from China in 2002.

The members of F.E.E.D.M. have to meet the stringent
standards imposed by their customers and the enforcement
authorities. However, trade and industry can only control the quality, they cannot improve it. In the chain from the hive to the final consumer, beekeepers have the key of quality in their hand. It depends very much on their work, if the honey can meet all requirements.

To keep the good image of honey as a pure and natural product is vital for our all business.

F.E.E.D.M. therefore demands honey production without any use of antibiotic drugs and offers a close cooperation to the beekeepers to ensure that honey of a high quality is achieved. Any technical queries about EU requirements might be addressed to our secretary.

Commission decision 94/278/EC of 18 March 1994 has drawn up a list of third countries from which the Member States of the European Union authorize the import of certain products like honey subject to Council Directive 92/118/EC. This Directive lays down the animal health and public health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of products of animal origin.

According to Council Directive 96/23/EC the European Community has set up plans to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in animal products in the respective Member States.

    

Third countries which wish to export into the European Union have to provide the Commission with the necessary guarantees with regard to the monitoring of residues and contaminants covered by Council Directive 96/23/EC.

  
 
The list of third countries is subject to changes. Countries can be removed from the list if they do not fulfil the requirements anymore as it has just been the case with Brazil. According to the European Commission, Brazil never supplied the Commission with the requested residue monitoring plan and after several disregarded demands to finally do so the Commission imposed the import ban for honey on Brazil without further ado.
 
Apart from the monitoring in the third country the product has of course to fulfil all EU foodstuff laws.

If your country is not on the list and you want to export your product to the EU please get in contact with your domestic governmental authorities. They should know what is requested and the EU authorities will be happy to assist any queries.

Sometimes your country may already be allowed to export other animal products for human consumption to the EU. In this case it will only be necessary to adopt already implemented measures for other industries onto honey.

For further information please contact
the Secretariat of F.E.E.D.M.