Mississippi

[newbury]

I was concerned about bee keeping laws in Mississippi, so I emailed the state.

Response:

Dear Sir,

No. There are regulations that govern the labeling of honey, the sanitary requirements for selling honey, and certification is required to sell bees or queens to other beekeepers. You do not have to register your hives with the State.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Harris
Extension / Research Apiculturist
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology
Box 9775
Mississippi State, MS 39762

[AzaleaHill]

ATTENTION Mississippi beeks:

The current Mississippi law is Miss. Code §41-3-18(2)(b) (2013) Persons who make infrequent casual sales of honey and who pack or sell less than five hundred (500) gallons of honey per year, and those persons shall not be inspected by the State Department of Health unless requested by the producer.

Inspections currently cost $40 annually and are expected to be raised to $100 annually.

"infrequent casual sales of honey" is interpreted as sales of raw or pasteurized honey direct to the consumer or sold within the state to retailers. Out-of-state sales fall under Federal rules (i.e. interstate commerce) and require bottling by a certified commercial kitchen.


In 2018, the Honey Producers Advisory Council was set up by House Bill 1333 to bring forward a recommendation. After consulting with many of the state beek clubs, the recommendation was to add the following language to the statute: Being that honey is a raw agricultural commodity, persons who produce, sell, and pack honey shall not be inspected unless requested by the producer.

This sounds ok.

However, apparently there is an effort by the commercial beek community to make a change to the language along the lines of :
All persons who pack or sell more that 500 gallons of honey per year must be inspected or shall have to label honey containers with the words "Not packaged in a State certified facility."



If you are a Mississippi beek and have concerns about this regulation change, please write to your state legislators soon. They are in session now.
Attached is a sample letter you can use.