About F.E.E.D.M.

About us

About F.E.E.D.M.

Fédération Européenne des Emballeurs et Distributeurs de Miel – F.E.E.D.M., the European Federation of Honey Packers and Distributors (importers and wholesalers), has been founded in 1989. The association represents the interests of European honey business operators of national honey associations or individual companies representing nineteen EU-Member Countries*, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK.

Honey is a very valuable natural product and is one of the most traditional foods in our diet. Beekeeping has become an important and emotional part of society in various countries. This craft contributes to the preservation of biodiversity and improves yields in fruit and vegetable cultivation. Accordingly, the services provided by beekeepers go beyond the production of honey and thus represent an integral part of environmental conservation and an important step towards achieving global sustainability goals. However, the EU is only 60 % self-sufficient so honey has to be sourced from third countries. Furthermore, the import of honey contributes to securing the income of small and large beekeeping enterprises in the exporting countries.

The priority of the association is to defend and promote honey as a pure and natural product, to support good apiculture practices and to aiming at improving the quality standards of honey. The members of F.E.E.D.M. commit themselves to the integrity and quality of the products, which are subject to their business. They represent about 80 % of the entire European honey import market.

F.E.E.D.M. is a member of the Civil Dialogue Groups “Animal Production” and “Organic Farming” of the European Commission. The association also contributes to the JRC (Joint Research Centre) “HarmHoney”-project and applied to the “Honey Platform” based on the Directive (EU) 2024/1438 revising the so-called “Breakfast-Directives”.

*Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden

Organisation

F.E.E.D.M. is represented by the Management Committee consisting of the F.E.E.D.M. President and Vice-President as well as the General Secretary of F.E.E.D.M. The Presidency of the association rotates every two years between the F.E.E.D.M. members.

Left to right: F.E.E.D.M. President Daniel Maciuszek (Poland), F.E.E.D.M. General Secretary Jeanette Gonnermann, F.E.E.D.M. Vice-President Wilco Schets (Benelux)

General Assembly

The General Assemblies of F.E.E.D.M. take place two times each year in Brussels or Cologne. Each meeting includes presentations from external experts, an exchange with the European Commission and the co-legislators as well as a report from the renowned honey labs from Germany, Italy and the UK. All members have the possibility to participate in these two-day meetings and have the chance for a personal exchange with colleagues from other countries.