Help with what to know when selling dried herbs

[Suziebun]

Hi everyone,
Can anyone advise me on selling dried herbs? What legal, insurance and other things do I need to consider?

I'm talking about legal herbs for personal use such as medicinal, spiritual, possibly cooking as well.

Many thanks

[Nicos]

I’m afraid I can’t help you but I am aware there is an awful lot you need to know.
Maybe a herbal forum might be a better place to ask?

I’m thinking that it’s Basically needing to comply with food safety standards .

I am aware that a local lass had to go on training courses and needed to be certified trained before she was able to sell her herbal teas.
Prevention of contaminates, different drying times, designated food handling areas, awareness of which herbs could cause miscarriage, heart , liver, kidney problems etc.

I’m in France but I imagine the food standards should still be much the same in the UK?
This isn’t exactly what you are asking about, but it may make you aware of some things which are important….
https://www.cbi.eu/market-informatio...product-comply

Do let us know how you get on.

[Suziebun]

Thank you for your reply. I think you're probably right about it being rather detailed, I wouldn't want to harm anyone. Thank you for the link as well, I'll have a good read up

[Ellesbells]

I just came across this thread by accident looking for something else, but it really concerned me. On no account should anyone be selling herbs for medicinal purposes without the relevant qualifications and knowledge. Apart from the basic health and safety concerns, herbs, in the wrong hands can be very, very dangerous, even fatal. There are many legal hoops to jump through, as well as insurance. Medical herbalists train for many years to gain the knowledge and understanding of how to use and apply herbs safely - and even then it is important to have the legal/insurance back up just in case. Not every herb is suitable for every person, and you need to have a full knowledge of their medical history and potential underlying conditions before you suggest anything. There are also issues with herbs interacting with other medications, or being used at the wrong dose. Give the wrong herb to someone with an undiagnosed condition and you could end up making them very sick or worse. My advice would be to stay well clear of anything like that, and stick to cullinary herbs which would only be subject to food production laws, food hygiene, food safety rules and regs. This would require letting trading standards know you were producing food for consumption, and packaging would need certain kinds of information on them, batch nos, use by dates etc etc. Your records would need to be kept up to date for potential inspections. Its a very complex area to get into, and not something you can do on a whim.

[Babru]

Look like sound advice to me Ellesbells.

[Nicos]

Yep, thanks for that Ellesbells.
I’m going to close this thread now as we’ve answered the original poster.