The Codex Alimentarius honey standard (CXS 12-1981) explained

Codex Alimentarius is the joint FAO/WHO international food standards body, and CXS 12-1981 is its standard for honey. When a buyer in a market with no honey-specific regulation of its own asks you to 'meet the international standard', this is almost always the document they mean. It is also the text most commonly written into international sale contracts as the neutral technical reference. Here is what it actually contains, parameter by parameter.

What Codex defines honey as

Codex defines honey as the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform, combine with their own specific substances, store and leave to mature in the honeycomb. The consequence of that wording matters commercially: nothing may be added to honey — no water, no sugar syrup, no colour, no preservative — and no constituent particular to honey may be removed, except where unavoidable in removing foreign matter. Honey must not have any objectionable flavour, aroma or taint absorbed from foreign matter during processing and storage, and must not have begun to ferment or effervesce.

Moisture — 20% maximum

Codex sets a general maximum moisture of 20% (m/m), with 23% allowed for heather honey (Calluna) and honey from Leptospermum, and 25% for Clover heather. Moisture is the single most important number for shelf stability: above roughly 20% the honey can support osmotolerant yeasts and ferment. In practice most commercial bulk contracts specify tighter than Codex — 18.5% or lower for anything destined for glass packing and long warehousing.

Sugars — fructose plus glucose, and sucrose

For blossom honeys Codex requires fructose plus glucose of not less than 60 g/100 g. For honeydew honeys and blends of honeydew with blossom honey the floor drops to 45 g/100 g. Sucrose is capped at 5 g/100 g generally, with named exceptions allowing up to 10 g/100 g (including alfalfa, citrus, lavender, borage) and up to 15 g/100 g for lavender (Lavandula) and borage (Borago officinalis) in some listings. A high sucrose result is one of the classic early flags for either sugar feeding or premature harvest — it is rarely proof of adulteration on its own, but it is always a reason to test further.

Water-insoluble solids

Not more than 0.1 g/100 g for honey generally, and not more than 0.5 g/100 g for pressed honey. This is a cleanliness and processing parameter: it captures wax fragments, propolis and other particulate carried through filtration.

Electrical conductivity

Not more than 0.8 mS/cm for blossom honeys and blends, and not less than 0.8 mS/cm for honeydew and chestnut honey and their blends. Conductivity tracks mineral and organic acid content and is therefore a useful botanical fingerprint: it is the cheapest routine test that helps distinguish a genuine honeydew or chestnut honey from a light blossom honey being sold as one.

Free acidity

Not more than 50 milliequivalents acid per 1000 g. Rising free acidity is a fermentation indicator — as yeasts convert sugars to alcohol and the alcohol oxidises to acetic acid, acidity climbs. A honey that is on-spec for moisture but high on free acidity has usually had a warm or humid history somewhere in its chain.

Diastase activity and HMF

Codex handles these two as a pair, because together they describe heat and age. The general requirement is diastase activity of not less than 8 on the Schade scale and HMF of not more than 40 mg/kg. For honeys with naturally low enzyme content (many citrus honeys) diastase of not less than 3 is accepted provided HMF is not more than 15 mg/kg. Where honey is of declared tropical origin, or blends of it, HMF up to 80 mg/kg is permitted. Fresh, gently handled honey typically tests well under 15 mg/kg HMF; a result in the thirties on incoming stock means heat, age, or both.

How Codex differs from the EU and UK standards

The EU Honey Directive (2001/110/EC) and the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 cover the same parameters and largely the same figures, but they are statutory in their jurisdictions — they carry labelling obligations and enforcement. Codex is a reference standard rather than law: it becomes binding only when a national regulator adopts it or a contract cites it. The practical consequence for a buyer is that meeting Codex does not automatically satisfy an EU or UK market entry requirement, and meeting the EU Directive does not automatically satisfy, say, a Gulf or Southeast Asian import specification written against Codex. When both apply, specify to whichever is tighter on each parameter.

What Codex does not cover

Codex CXS 12-1981 is a composition and labelling standard. It does not set antibiotic or pesticide residue limits (those sit in separate Codex texts and in national MRL legislation), it does not address authenticity testing methods such as SCIRA/EA-IRMS or NMR profiling, and it says nothing about Manuka-specific markers like MGO, DHA or leptosperin. A certificate of analysis that shows 'complies with Codex' and nothing else is therefore an incomplete picture for any medical, infant-adjacent or premium monofloral application.

Writing Codex into a specification properly

The wording we recommend to buyers is: 'Honey shall comply with Codex Alimentarius CXS 12-1981 for composition and labelling, tested by harmonised International Honey Commission methods at a UKAS-accredited or equivalent laboratory, with the following tightened parameters: moisture ≤ 18.5%, HMF ≤ 15 mg/kg, diastase ≥ 8 Schade.' Naming the methods matters as much as naming the limits — a number without a method behind it is not enforceable at a border or in a dispute.

How we supply against Codex

Every bulk lot we offer arrives with an independent certificate of analysis covering the Codex composition parameters, plus whatever additional panel your application needs — residues, authenticity, MGO/DHA for Manuka, or your own customer specification. Send us the spec you have been given and we will tell you plainly whether we can hit it from current available batches, and what the testing will cost. Our Standards page collects the primary source texts, including the Codex standard itself, if you want to read it straight from the FAO.