# Is is fairly safe to sell honey?



## Joshua2639 (Apr 2, 2006)

I am getting started in beekeeping with my young (2nd)cousin. I have read some articles on selling honey and, of course, the possibilities of legal issues. I own a small construction company so I worry about getting sued and take every precation possible in my everyday life. The last thing I want is to lose my business because I made a buck on a jar of honey. My cousin wants to sell them to his teachers, friends, family, neibhors, etc... I would rather just give them away. Am I getting worried over nothing? Has anyone ever had a scare with thier honey?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I'm not in MN but selling to friends and family is not usually a problem. As long as you don't contaminate the honey in some way there's not much that can go wrong with honey that would hurt anyone. If you start selling at a farmers market or other public place the laws are usualy more complicated.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

I would agree. I only sell to friends, family and co-workers and can never keep enough honey on hand. But I only have 6 hives.

Now my dad sold a bunch of comb to people at work once....it was his first year doing it and he didn't know you were suppose to freeze it first........he had a lot of people bring it back becasue wax moths had laid eggs in it and they hatch into worms. He was so embarrased!!! He never tried comb honey again after that. Something like that could get you trouble with people you don't know.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Freeze it first?? I've never frozen my honey and haven't had any problems. Seems like you'd know pretty soon after extraction if you had wax moth eggs...like is a few day, right? 

Is it standard practice to freeze honey with the intent to kill stuff (eggs etc)?

oops... reread post and saw that you were talking about comb honey. Any egg issues with liquid honey?

[ May 19, 2006, 10:39 PM: Message edited by: AstroBee ]


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Just have the cousin sell it. Even if you make the sell, it is is bees and his honey. You are only helping him. They will just explain the law to him, and you, if there is a problem. They can't sue a minor, and you aren't his legal guardian.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

one of the concepts of marketing is to seperate yourself from the herd of your competition. 

I recently met a fellow who lives a bit south and east of me that runs a small family owned and operated construction business. he keeps maybe a dozen hives. he use the honey as gifts to his customers. he spares no expense on the bottles. as a gift how much more unique can you be?


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## Jeffrey Todd (Mar 17, 2006)

I myself have never heard of a beekeeper being sued for product liability. I have read of a lawsuit brought by a person who chipped a tooth on a piece of clamshell in clam chowder; the judge ruled in favor of the soup maker because encountering a piece of shell in the soup is a reasonable expectation for someone eating soup made from a clam. I suppose you could place a label on the back cautioning against possible allergies and not to feed to infants. Look on the label of a store-bought jar and use it as a guide. 
Probably of bigger concern would liability for stings, whether from your bees or others.
Personally, I like the idea of using honey as gifts and selling to co-workers.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Any egg issues with liquid honey?

No.


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Product liability insurance seems to be big here in Maine. I know of some beekeepers that don't, I know of several beekeepers that have it. Both of them however buy honey from other beekeepers to augment their own production and I don't know what that has to do with it.

I'm not a huge fan of liability insurance as most of you probably already know, but my wife is strongly encouraging me to look into product liability insurance before we start selling honey.... I of course am thrilled.


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## beegee (Jun 3, 2003)

Do not sell your honey! Avoid all liability problems. Give it all to me. I promise I won't sue you....


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## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

Keep everything clean. Follow the MN Dept of Ag requirements for labeling honey. 

www.mda.state.mn.us/apiary/labels.html

Keep your fingers crossed. I've never heard of anyone in MN being sued for product liability with honey, but there are no guarantees in life.


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## Joshua2639 (Apr 2, 2006)

Thanks for the advice everyone. 

Beegee, That is a very nice offer, then I would never have to worry about getting sued. I guess that solves that problem.

Thanks for the link to the MN Requirements site.
Very helpful. 

I guess I am going to let the kid sell the bulk of it. The bees are actually at his house, so like Iddee said, they really would be his bees, his honey (worst case senerio). 

I also do small personal gifts for my customers, so like you mentioned Tecumsh, I am planning on givving gift honey for the holidays.

Thanks again everyone
Josh


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## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

I expect giving away the honey would have the same potential consequences as selling it. If you ran into someone who really wanted to sue you, they could probably do so if you sold it to them or gave it to them.

I don't think you should be too worried. People sell honey all the time and you almost never hear about problems. 

I once had someone claim that the flowers I sold her made her allergies flair up and she became deathly ill. I thought she was looking for some kind of compensation for her health problems, but all she wanted was the money back for the flowers. Giving her money back seemed like a good deal for me at the time even though I think the whole deal was a fraud. Maybe her husband was angry that she had spent too much on flowers and she made up a big story to solve her problem.


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