Some people buying mānuka honey in New Zealand are probably getting a raw deal, an Ashburton honey seller is warning.
MPI wants to ensure local buyers are not buying inferior grade mānuka honey, as well as protecting export grade honey. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is currently seeking feedback on whether to extend the export grade standard to mānuka honey sold locally.
It wants to protect the reputation of export grade New Zealand mānuka honey, and also protect local buyers from an inferior grade product.
Adam Boot of the company Puriti, which is part of Midlands Apiaries, said it was obvious to those in the industry there was a problem, but not consumers.
"We totally disagree with the domestic consumer in New Zealand having a different quality of product than our export partners, and them not knowing about it."
Mr Boot was responding to RNZ's report that revealed MPI was concerned about the unknown amount of ungraded mānuka honey bought locally, that was making its way overseas.
Most international consumers were also unaware that bulk barrels of the honey could be exported and packed overseas without any mandatory or legal requirement to meet the MPI Mānuka Honey Science Definition, he said.
That allowed bulk honey to be packed offshore, outside of New Zealand, where quality regulation, standards and labelling rules varied dramatically, therefore, resulting in a lower quality product.
Adam Boot. Photo: Supplied
Honey producers and beekeepers in Nelson told MPI at a public meeting that tourists had been seen stocking up on mānuka honey by the trolley load, presumably to take back home.
'Loopholes in the industry'
Mr Boot said he paid a lot of attention to the international press.
"On a regular basis there are stories of mānuka products being removed from the shelf in either Europe or the UK after people have asked if it's counterfeit, fraud or whether they're getting the right thing - or it's been tested and hasn't come up to standard.
"There are loopholes in the industry and something had to be done about it."
He said the company he represented had voluntarily adopted standards that met and exceeded the current export standard.
Mr Boot said it was necessary to protect the New Zealand industry from others "jumping on the bandwagon", such as that which happened in Australia when the name of a tree was changed to ride on the mānuka coat tails.
Testing was needed to confirm mānuka apart from other honey: "A bee will wander but when you are harvesting mānuka, you are harvesting it from where the majority of the plantation is mānuka, but there will be other plants there."
He said MPI's standard was a global first, which was a test for four specific chemicals and a DNA test.
Producers at the Nelson meeting said the testing was expensive, but most likely necessary if mānuka honey reputation was to be protected.
However, hobby beekeepers who sold to markets, or via online sites, were likely to be hardest hit if the standard became mandatory.
The test for a single sample was up to $190.