I have written to the bee-l before about Canadian honey labelling laws and
did not get any response.  However, I know from reading the postings that
there are many list members who want to produce unheated and/or unfiltered
honey.

The way that things stand now, using the terms "raw", "unfiltered",
"unheated", and "unpasteurized" are all prohibited on Canada graded honey.
And honey that is settled and coarse filtered would have to be Canada No. 3,
because it would have some residue on an 80 mesh filter, regardless of
whether it met the moisture levels of Canada No. 1

On Nov. 4 there is going to be a meeting between the Canada Food Inspection
Agency and a Honey Advisory Committee  discussing this matter.  Now one
would think that the Canadian Honey Council which is on this committee would
be pressing for a new grade, but it my understanding that THEY are the ones
who asked that "unpasteurized" be a banned term (due to a very complicated
situation regarding store brand honeys misusing the word) and the food
people were just going along with it, although now they are reconsidering.
I know far too little of the politics involved to make any criticism of the
Canadian Honey Council (and so I am NOT!), however through the wonder of
email and the ease of the bee-l I am able to tell all the Canadian
beekeepers who might have opinion on this matter the email address of the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency representative who will be at this meeting,
and he is open to receiving the opinion of beekeepers who contact him:
His name is John McCool and his email is  [log in to unmask]

My opinion to him was that we need a new grade called "Canada No. 1 raw" or
"Canada No. 1 unfiltered" and that "unheated over x degrees" be allowable.
Feel free to send him your opinion (if you are a Canadian beekeeper).

Regards, Stan