Harvest year is the calendar year in which honey was extracted from the comb, and it matters in trade because quality parameters such as HMF and diastase activity change with storage time, making freshness directly linked to the extraction season.
In trade practice
Buyers and public tenders commonly specify the current or most recent harvest year to limit the risk of receiving aged stock with elevated HMF or reduced enzyme activity. Suppliers are expected to document harvest year on batch records and health certificates, and traceability systems must link each drum to a specific extraction date or season. A frequent problem is blending honey from different harvest years without disclosing this, which can obscure quality deterioration and complicate authenticity audits.
In a specification
Purchase contracts typically include a clause requiring the supplier to declare the harvest year on the certificate of analysis and on drum labels, and may exclude honey extracted before a stated cut-off year.