The line that decides everything

The CFIA is explicit: you need a Safe Food for Canadians licence if you import, export or prepare honey to be sent from one province to another. You do not need one if your food business operates solely within your province and you sell directly to consumers, at a farm gate, roadside stand or local farmers market. That single distinction decides whether the rest of the federal machinery below applies to you.

Even the beekeepers who do cross the line get real relief: businesses with gross annual food sales of $100,000 or less are excepted from the written Preventive Control Plan for foods like honey. You still need basic hygiene and sanitation, but not the formal documented plan, unless you want an export certificate.

What every jar needs, everywhere

Wherever you sell, the Food and Drugs Act applies, and prepackaged honey needs at minimum:

  • The common name. "Honey," alone or with the blossom, like "Clover Honey." A blossom name is only allowed if the honey meets the composition for that variety.
  • Net weight in metric (g or kg), on the front panel.
  • Your name and place of business, anywhere on the label except only the bottom.
  • Words about the true nature where confusion is likely: liquid, creamed or pressed.

And one absolute rule with teeth: honey must be 100 percent honey. Adding corn, rice or cane syrup to something sold as honey is adulteration, the CFIA tests for it with isotope and NMR analysis, and it treats violations as food fraud. Flavoured products need honest names like "strawberry flavoured honey" and no longer count as honey.

Crossing a provincial line: the full federal set

Interprovincial, imported or exported honey adds:

  • A grade. Canada No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3, declared on the front panel. Canada No. 1 caps moisture at 17.8 percent (18.6 if pasteurized), which is what your refractometer and the Honey Moisture Calculator check.
  • A colour class next to the grade: White, Golden, Amber or Dark, read on a Pfund grader.
  • Bilingual labels. English and French for consumer prepackaged honey.
  • Standard container sizes. 375 g or less, 500 g, 750 g, 1 kg, 1.5 kg, 2 kg, 3 kg or 5 kg.
  • Origin. Graded Canadian honey is marked "Product of Canada" or "Canadian Honey." Blends with imported honey must name the sources in descending order.

Ontario, in detail

Ontario's rules live in O. Reg. 119/11 under the Food Safety and Quality Act, and they contain the exemption every hobbyist should know word for word. The whole regulation does not apply to your honey if all of these are true: it was produced in your own apiary, it is sold at your own residence, directly to the consumer, in a container marked with your name, your full address and the words "honey/miel."

Step outside that exemption, including selling at a farmers market or through a store, and Ontario requires grading (Ontario No. 1, 2 or 3, mirroring the federal moisture and quality limits), a colour class, the packer's name and full address, the words "honey/miel" and the net weight on the label. Container sizes follow the federal standard sizes, plus Ontario permits a 330 g container. Containers of 150 g or less are exempt from the grade and weight declarations, which is what makes honey favours and sampler jars practical.

Quebec: French is mandatory

Under the Charter of the French Language, every inscription on a retail label in Quebec must be in French, and French must be at least as prominent as any other language. MAPAQ's honey guidance lists the usual elements: common name, net quantity, supplier name and address. If you sell at a Quebec market, build the label French-first.

Your province

Within-province rules vary, but two things hold almost everywhere: register your hives with your provincial apiarist (a bee health requirement separate from food law), and pure honey sold direct to consumers is treated as low risk food. Confirm the details with your province:

A note on "raw honey"

Canada is refreshingly clear here: the CFIA considers honey raw when it has not been heat treated beyond the minimal warmth of extraction and has not been filtered. Pairing the claim with clarifying words like "unfiltered" keeps it from misleading. That is friendlier ground than the UK, where the same claim is legally contested.

Common mistakes

  • Grading confusion. "Canada No. 1" on a farm gate jar that was never graded misrepresents a grade. Skip the grade entirely when you sell under a provincial exemption.
  • Combining origin and grade. "Product of Canada No. 1" is explicitly not permitted. They are two separate statements.
  • Blossom names without the composition. "Clover Honey" is a compositional claim, not a vibe.
  • Odd jar sizes into retail. A 650 g jar is fine at your gate in most provinces but not for graded interprovincial trade.
  • Manuka-style potency claims. Numbers like "Bioactive 100+" read as health claims and need careful quantitative backing.

Check the sources

The documents worth bookmarking are the CFIA labelling requirements for honey, the CFIA licensing pages and, for Ontario, O. Reg. 119/11. Your provincial ministry of agriculture answers beekeeper questions. That is what they are for.