Honey - natural honey Hs Code

Honey - natural honey harmonized system code

Product Overview Honey - Natural Honey, classified under HS Code 040900, is a viscous, sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera and other bee species through the enzymatic processing of nectar collected from flowers. This product is characterized by its distinctive color range from pale amber to dark brown, a moisture content typically below 20%, and a sucrose concentration exceeding 60%. It is minimally processed to preserve its natural enzymatic activity, flavor profile, and nutritional components such as fructose, glucose, and trace minerals. The HS Code 040900 encompasses various forms of honey, including liquid, creamed, crystallized, and comb honey, each meeting standardized purity criteria. Commercially, natural honey serves as a key ingredient in the food service sector, retail packaged goods, confectionery, bakery products, and as a natural sweetener in beverage formulations. Its antimicrobial properties and consumer demand for natural products position it competitively within global markets, emphasizing quality, traceability, and compliance with food safety regulations. HS Code Classification & Trade Specifications The Harmonized System (HS) Code 040900 precisely classifies natural honey under Chapter 04 (Dairy produce; birds’ eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin), Heading 09 (Natural honey), and Subheading 00, indicating unadulterated honey products. This classification is justified by honey’s origin as an animal product derived from bees, distinct from artificial sweeteners or syrups. Trade considerations include packaging in food-grade containers ranging from bulk drums (e.g., 300-500 kg) to retail jars (250g-1kg), employing hermetic sealing to prevent moisture ingress and fermentation. Preservation relies on maintaining moisture content below 20% and storage at controlled ambient temperatures to inhibit crystallization and microbial growth. Shipping protocols comply with WTO sanitary and phytosanitary measures, ensuring product integrity across international borders. Quality standards commonly referenced include Codex Alimentarius guidelines, ISO 22000 for food safety management, and compliance with specific import country regulations, facilitating smooth customs clearance and minimizing trade disputes.

Honey - natural honey Chapter Note

1.- The expression “milk” means full cream milk or partially or completely skimmed milk. 2.- For the purposes of heading 04.03, yogurt may be concentrated or flavoured and may contain added sugar or other sweetening matter, fruit, nuts, cocoa, chocolate, spices, coffee or coffee extracts, plants, parts of plants, cereals or bakers’ wares, provided that any added substance is not used for the purpose of replacing, in whole or in part, any milk constituent, and the product retains the essential character of yogurt. 3.- For the purposes of heading 04.05 : (a) The term “butter” means natural butter, whey butter or recombined butter (fresh, salted or rancid, including canned butter) derived exclusively from milk, with a milkfat content of 80 % or more but not more than 95 % by weight, a maximum milk solids-not-fat content of 2 % by weight and a maximum water content of 16 % by weight. Butter does not contain added emulsifiers, but may contain sodium chloride, food colours, neutralising salts and cultures of harmless lactic-acidproducing bacteria. (b) The expression “dairy spreads” means a spreadable emulsion of the water-in-oil type, containing milkfat as the only fat in the product, with a milkfat content of 39 % or more but less than 80 % by weight. 4.- Products obtained by the concentration of whey and with the addition of milk or milkfat are to be classified as cheese in heading 04.06 provided that they have the three following characteristics : (a) a milkfat content, by weight of the dry matter, of 5 % or more; (b) a dry matter content, by weight, of at least 70 % but not exceeding 85 %; and (c) they are moulded or capable of being moulded. 5.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Non-living insects, unfit for human consumption (heading 05.11); (b) Products obtained from whey, containing by weight more than 95 % lactose, expressed as anhydrous lactose calculated on the dry matter (heading 17.02); (c) Products obtained from milk by replacing one or more of its natural constituents (for example, butyric fats) by another substance (for example, oleic fats) (heading 19.01 or 21.06); or (d) Albumins (including concentrates of two or more whey proteins, containing by weight more than 80 % whey proteins, calculated on the dry matter) (heading 35.02) or globulins (heading 35.04). 6.- For the purposes of heading 04.10, the term “insects” means edible non-living insects, whole or in parts, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, smoked, salted or in brine, as well as flours and meals of insects, fit for human consumption. However, it does not cover edible non-living insects otherwise prepared or preserved (generally Section IV).