The acceptance of this should provide that no added cost or responsibility shall be
required of the State of New York or to any business in the state of New York.

Section 205. Defining honey

(a) “Honey” means the natural sweet substance produced by honeybees from the nectar of
plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees
collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate,
store, and leave in the honeycomb to ripen and mature.
(b) “Blossom honey” or “nectar honey” means the honey that comes from nectars of
plants.
(c) “Honeydew honey” means the honey that comes mainly from excretions of plant
sucking insects (Hemiptera) of living parts of plants.
(d) Honey consists of different sugars, predominantly fructose and glucose as well as
other substances such as organic acids, enzymes, and solid particles derived from honey
collection. The color of honey can vary from nearly colorless to dark brown. The
consistency can be fluid, viscous, or partially to completely crystallized. The flavor and
aroma vary but are derived from plant origin.
(e) Honey sold as described in subdivision (d) shall not have added to it any food
ingredient, including food additives, nor shall any other additions be made other than
honey. Honey shall not have any foreign matter, or any flavor, aroma, or taint absorbed
from foreign matter during its’ processing and storage. Honey shall not have begun to
ferment or effervesce and no pollen or constituent particular to honey may be removed
except where unavoidable in the removal of foreign organic or inorganic matter.
(f) Honey shall meet the following standards:
1. Honey shall not be heated or processed to such and extent that its’ essential
composition is changed or its’ quality impaired.
2. Chemical or biochemical treatments shall not be used to influence honey
crystallization.
3. Honey shall not contain more than 18.6 percent moisture content.
4. Honey shall not contain less than 60 percent fructose and glucose, combined.
5. Honeydew honey and blends of honeydew honey with blossom honey shall not
contain less than 45 percent fructose and glucose, combined.
6. Blossom honey shall not contain more than 5 percent sucrose, except for the
following:
(A) Alfalfa (medicago sativa), citrus spp., false acacia (robinia pseudo acacia), French
honeysuckle (Hedysarum), Menzies banksias (Banksia meniscii), red gum (Eucalypsis
camaldulensis), leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), and Eucryphia milligani may contain up
to 10 percent sucrose.
(B) Lavendar (Lavandula Spp.) and borage (Borago officinalis) may contain up to 15
percent sucrose.
7. Honey may contain the hive products beeswax and propolis.

Section 206 (UNCHANGED)

New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets
Division of Food Safety and Inspection
10B Airline Dr.
Albany, NY 12235

Revised as of August 2000

Circular 911

Rules and Regulations Relating to
ARTICLE 17
and Food Products


Section 205. Defining honey

The terms "honey," "liquid or extracted honey," "strained honey," or "pure honey," as used in this article, shall mean the nectar of flowers that has been transformed by, and is the natural product of the honey-bee, taken from the honeycomb and marketed in a liquid, candied or granulated condition.


Section 206. Relative to selling a commodity in imitation or semblance of honey

No person or persons shall package, label, sell, keep for sale, expose or offer for sale, any article or product in imitation or semblance of honey depicting thereon a picture or drawing of a bee, beehive or honeycomb, or branded as "honey," "liquid or extracted honey," "strained honey" or "pure honey" which is not pure honey. No person or persons, firm, association, company or corporation, shall manufacture, sell, expose or offer for sale, any compound or mixture branded or labeled as and for honey which shall be made up of honey mixed with any other substance or ingredient. There may be printed on the package containing such compound or mixture a statement giving the ingredients of which it is made; if honey is one of such ingredients it shall be so stated in the same size type as are the other ingredients, but it shall not be packaged, sold, exposed for sale, or offered for sale as honey; nor shall such compound or mixture be branded or labeled with the word "honey" in any form other than as herein provided; nor shall any product in semblance of honey, whether a mixture or not, be sold, exposed or offered for sale as honey, or branded or labeled with the word "honey," unless such article is pure honey. A product which is in semblance or imitation of liquid honey shall be labeled as "honey flavored syrup" or "artificially honey flavored syrup", as is appropriate.