Raw & processed honey — plus separate beekeeping registration
COTTAGE FOOD + REGISTRATION
Bottom line: Honey itself needs no food license to sell, but every beekeeper in Florida — selling or not — must separately register hives with FDACS, now through the online Plant Pay portal.
The Path
Selling honey is cottage food eligible with no separate food permit needed. But keeping bees is regulated on its own track: Florida law requires every beekeeper to register their colonies annually with FDACS (Fla. Stat. § 586.10), whether or not the honey is ever sold, primarily to track pest and Africanized-bee risk. Registration now runs through FDACS's online Plant Pay portal, with fees starting around $10/year for up to five colonies and scaling with colony count. Separately, Florida's honey standard-of-identity law prohibits labeling a diluted or adulterated product as "honey," and any origin claim like "Florida Honey" must be accurate.
What You Need
Register all hives annually with FDACS via the Plant Pay portal (Fla. Stat. § 586.10)
Cottage food label on honey: business name & address, product name, net weight, disclosure statement
Keep origin claims ("Florida Honey") truthful and accurate
Watch Out For
Don't sell honey without registering your hives, even if you're not required to permit the honey sale itself
Don't label diluted or adulterated product as "honey" — Florida's standard of identity prohibits it