Plastic bottling tank and digital scales

Probably not but check how much over they will be. My 340g jar take 370 to the top which is nearly one free jar for every 11

I was astonished to hear from a bee farmer that it is not legal to overfill jars either....something about "unfair competition"... has anyone else heard of that?

i dont think trading standards would be at all bothered as long as its not under weight.

bontbee said:

I was astonished to hear from a bee farmer that it is not legal to overfill jars either....something about "unfair competition"... has anyone else heard of that?

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True and yes, TS would be bothered.

Wow! Just think of the publicity you would get for being done for overfilling jars!

Dusty

bontbee said:

I was astonished to hear from a bee farmer that it is not legal to overfill jars either....something about "unfair competition"... has anyone else heard of that?

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"Unfair competition" is giving the customer a better deal is it?

Oddly enough, I have found bee farmers to somewhat unreliable sources of information and guidance.

There are Rules about the average pack weight and tolerances … but they don't actually relate to overweight tolerances.
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/glos/bus1item.cgi?file=*badv024-1111.txt
Its all about ensuring that the customer is (on average) NOT getting LESS than he expects. The rules don't prohibit giving the customer more than he expects.
The problem is that - if you are claiming to be meeting the specification on the basis of the average weight - then some overweight packs imply some underweight ones … and that is where the problem with overweight arises.
The simple answer is not to sell on the basis of an average weight checked by 'statistical sampling' of only a few items.

Unlike bee farmers, we aren't dealing with automated packing equipment and only sampling and check-weighing a small percentage of production.
Also, unlike commercially-driven and larger-scale producers, we don't have the incentive of a massive output to bring any significant advantage by shaving the odd gram off our 'safety margins' (by which we ensure that we aren't selling underweight).
We should be individually monitoring each and every "package" to ensure that absolutely NONE of them falls short of the claimed weight - which logically means that they must ALL be over weight. And the only harm in that is to our prospects of profitability.

bontbee said:

I was astonished to hear from a bee farmer that it is not legal to overfill jars either....something about "unfair competition"... has anyone else heard of that?

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Yes but not from trading standards

bontbee said:

I was astonished to hear from a bee farmer that it is not legal to overfill jars either....something about "unfair competition"... has anyone else heard of that?

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Sounds like the urban myth is still doing the rounds. No it's not true. The official guidance includes a one paragraph summary at:

https://www.gov.uk/weights-measures-and-packaging-the-law/packaged-goods

Minimum system

You can pack your products so that they contain at least the quantity displayed on the label. The packages can contain more than the label says, but not less.

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The full legislation is online as the various weights and measures acts and amendments if you want the plough through them. Some confusion is from the references to older legislation in books and wherever that required packing in certain prescribed quantities, basically pound, half pound and so on. That was all abolished - with a few remaining exceptions, mostly for alcoholic drinks and that's probably to make the excise job easier(!) For honey, and most other food you can sell in any quantity you like as long as the minimum contents are on the label.

alanf said:

Sounds like the urban myth is still doing the rounds. No it's not true. The official guidance includes a one paragraph summary at:

https://www.gov.uk/weights-measures-and-packaging-the-law/packaged-goods



The full legislation is online as the various weights and measures acts and amendments if you want the plough through them. Some confusion is from the references to older legislation in books and wherever that required packing in certain prescribed quantities, basically pound, half pound and so on. That was all abolished - with a few remaining exceptions, mostly for alcoholic drinks and that's probably to make the excise job easier(!) For honey, and most other food you can sell in any quantity you like as long as the minimum contents are on the label.

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someone who can read the regulations and interpret them properly - not make up their own versions whcih misleads most on here - I check weigh the first jar more than anything to confirm that the fill level I use is still about the same for that batch of jars (slightly over the minimum weight which allows leeway if one is a bit under the mark) then fill away to that - not fassass around with a scales (digital or otherwise) with each individual jar I might check one or two along the line to remind myself, but that's all

Our local council trading standards officer gave a talk last year to our BKA on selling honey, labelling regulations etc.

He did state that overfilling could be interpreted as 'unfair competition' and should be avoided.

Ofc the same with under filling there is a leeway so unless you are massively over filling your jars it should not matter.
Also unless someone complains about getting too much Honey in their jar, what is the chance of being investigated for over filling.

At the end of the day I don't know of anyone who will intentionally give extra honey away!

YorkshireBees said:

He did state that overfilling could be interpreted as 'unfair competition' and should be avoided.

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Well. you are talking Yorkshire - I believe that giving away something for nothing is still a flogging offence up there (third offence - hanging) And before anyone comments, I have Cardiganshire blood - they taught the tykes!

YorkshireBees said:

Our local council trading standards officer gave a talk last year to our BKA on selling honey, labelling regulations etc.

He did state that overfilling could be interpreted as 'unfair competition' and should be avoided....

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You might get grumbling from the next stallholder if it's blatent, but that's a personal opinion. It's not in any of the legislation he's paid to enforce. There's nothing to stop anyone offering better value. Quite the opposite in that colluding to fix prices (or weights) is against competition legislation. Although realistically that's only going to be acted on if you're a major packer or a supermarket chain. Even then recent enquiries have shown price collusion is really hard to prove without a whistleblower.

alanf said:

You might get grumbling from the next stallholder if it's blatent, but that's a personal opinion. It's not in any of the legislation he's paid to enforce. There's nothing to stop anyone offering better value. Quite the opposite in that colluding to fix prices (or weights) is against competition legislation. Although realistically that's only going to be acted on if you're a major

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Otherwise BOGOF would be illegal