Real Texas Honey^TM Detailed Program Requirements

1. To participate in the Real Texas Honey™ program, the applicant must be a Texas beekeeper registered with the Texas Apiary Inspection Service.
2. Participants in the Real Texas Honey™ (RTH) program must submit an online Real Texas Honey™ Application.
3. Approval by members of the RTH Board must be granted before inclusion in the honey locator, or permission to use the Real Texas Honey™ seal.
4. Annual dues rates are determined by the RTH Board and are currently $20 plus $0.70 per hive.
5. To maintain good standing in the RTH program participants will be contacted each year for re-verification and annual dues assessment.
6. Any honey products offered as Real Texas Honey™ must contain honey 100% produced by honey bees in Texas, and any additional honey purchased for resale as Real Texas Honey™ must come from another Real Texas Honey™ participant.
7. Participants purchasing bulk honey from outside the state of Texas are excluded from this program.
8. Incidental sales of honey from outside the state of Texas are allowed only if that honey is prepackaged and labeled with its country or state of origin, e.g. Manuka honey. No honey product from outside Texas may display the Real Texas Honey™ seal.
9. All honey labeled as Real Texas Honey™ must be pure honey and must not be flavored or contain any other additive or substance.
10. All honey labeled as Raw must not be heated above 120°F.
11. All honey labeled as Unfiltered must not be ultra-filtered, and will contain pollen as collected by the honey bees.
12. All honey labeled as Pure means honey from the nectar of plants that has been transformed by, and is the natural product of, bees and that is in the comb or has been taken from the comb and is packaged in a liquid, crystallized, or granular form.
13. The term “organic honey” may not be used to describe Real Texas Honey™.
14. Honey containers must be labeled in accordance with current Texas laws.
15. All participants in the RTH program are subject to inspection and if needed, provide proof of the source of Texas Honey.
16. Participants acknowledge that random samples of honey will be submitted for pollen analyses and/or nuclear magnetic resonance testing for comparison with established databases to reveal if their honey is unadulterated and produced from Texas nectars.
17. Any infractions in the requirements of the RTH program may result in removal from the program, deletion from the Honey Locator, and exclusion from the use of the Real Texas Honey™ seal. These Definitions and Detailed Program Requirements are posted on the Real Texas Honey™ website.
18. Real Texas Honey™ labels will only be available from the Real Texas Honey™ Board.
19. Use of the RTH seal is restricted for use only on Real Texas Honey™ products. Original seals are permitted to be placed on honey containers consistent with program requirements. Black-and-white reproductions of the logo graphic may be used on advertising items such as business cards and banners during the period of good standing in the program but may not be placed on products or product displays.
20. Membership in the Real Texas Honey™ program will renew yearly on the anniversary date of original approval. Each beekeeper will be contacted to determine the number of verifiable honey-producing hives at that time. An invoice will be sent for the annual membership fee plus the fee based on the number of hives. Upon receipt, free seals, based on the number of hives will be included in those fees, and your bee flag on the Honey Locator will be maintained for the subsequent year. Additional seals will be available if needed at renewal time.