Food Labelling for Home-Based Producers – Does Privacy Matter?

  APIARIST’S OPINION: JASON PRICE 

By Jason Price, Perrott’s Honey

Perrott’s Honey in the Hutt Valley, just one of many home-based honey labels in New Zealand. Should they be required to include their residential address on the label?

I recently started my journey from hobby beekeeper to registering as a home producer of honey, so I can legally sell any surplus honey in the future. Compliance with the NP1 programme and Food Safety regulations will be familiar to many in the beekeeping community and it wasn’t long before I came across the food labelling standards part of the exercise.

Having obtained my NP1 registration and submitting labels that publish my home address on every jar I sell, I started to share the safety and privacy misgivings of a friend who’d warned me about this requirement.

He’d told me that having his residential address in the cupboard of hundreds of random people made him a little nervous and I can see his point. He said it put him off being a registered food producer. It got me thinking about why is this requirement necessary in today’s internet age?

I asked MPI, as food provider details are publicly available on the internet through a national searchable register. MPI already recognise privacy concerns here, as they allow providers operating from residential addresses to have their details redacted in the online register.

I asked why we couldn’t publish another unique identifier on labels instead – for example, our unique food registration ID? In the event of a food safety concern, consumers can still find a provider through the public MPI food safety register and contact the regulators directly.

Consumers would remain protected, along with the privacy of home-based food producers’ residential addresses.

MPI told me that this requirement dates from pre-1984 Food Safety Act rules (before the internet existed) that remain in current legislation. To change it, I could make a submission to amend the Food Safety Act, personally costing me anything between AUD49K and 137K to be considered. Not an option!

To my surprise, I then received a phone call from the Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard. My letter had crossed his desk and he wanted to know more. During our conversation, Minister Hoggard said he could see the point and it would be helpful to know if other food producers shared my privacy concerns about labelling, to make a case for change.

I said I’d find out, so through the Apiarists’ Advocate, I’m collecting your views to provide a response to the Minister. If you’re a home-based food provider, you can complete this short survey about food labelling and privacy, which is open for submissions until 31 August 2026.

Click here to participate: https://tally.so/r/LZgy2J

This isn’t just an issue for honey providers, but it’s a good place to start. The survey is open for anyone who provides food products, so please share this link as widely as you can with anyone who produces food as a home-based business, directly or through other networks.

I’ll collate all responses I receive by 31 August and send the results in my reply to Minister Hoggard, in early September.

For any questions about the survey, you can contact Jason Price via email at jpsurvey@icloud.com

Jason Price is a non-commercial beekeeper in the Hutt Valley. He has kept between three and nine hives for eight years and works in the public service.