New Zealand UMF Manuka honey producers – listing as at October 2017

New Zealand’s Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) Honey Association has more than 100 members, and includes most of the big NZ honey producers.

This is a listing of the members, and web site links (where available).

An attempt to trademark and restrict using the name Manuka honey to only New Zealand producers appears to have run into serious problems.

New Zealand’s Intellectual Property Office has reportedly rejected an application from the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) Honey Association.

However the Association is said to be appealing the decision, and press reports suggest that the New Zealanders have also submitted trademark applications in Australia, the US, UK and perhaps even China.

The Australian application is reported to have lapsed, and those lodged in the other countries are understood to also still yet to get approval.

If you are allergic to dairy proteins such as casein, then you’d probably best avoid eating honey imported from China.That’s because one of Europe’s leading technical laboratories has now confirmed multiple instances of Chinese honey containing milk proteins.
Just how and why honey should contain any level of milk proteins is a mystery. But experts are speculating that it may be a masking attempt by the Chinese manufacturers of fake and imitation honey.
Or in other words, the Chinese might be trying to fool the usual tests for fake and adulterated honey.
(The casein may also just be the result of sloppy and/or incompetent storage and handling processes.)
But, according to the German company, Intertek GmbH, there can now be no doubt that some Chinese honeys imported into Europe contain traces of milk proteins.

Australia had a bumper honey harvest in winter this year, and spring is already looking good as well.

Ben McKee, CEO of Australian Stock Exchange  listed honey packer - Capilano, said that it was the “largest ever winter honey supply for many, many years."

McKee made the remarks in a statement to the ASX announcing the company’s annual profit results earlier this month.

The results show that Capilano increased its market share in Australia, over the last 12 months even though overall sales were slightly down for the year.

The company also managed to increase net profits after tax, to just over $AUD 10million for the financial year 2016/2017.

Finalization of the New Zealand Government’s proposed Manuka honey test has been deferred yet again.

A statement released by the government  earlier this month ( July 6^th), said  it needs a further 6 to 8 weeks to properly evaluate 120 new submissions from industry and the public.

A  number of honey producers who used the new test were surprised to discover that their Manuka honey had failed, and would not be considered authentic, and/or government approved for export.

Many consumers prefer their honey creamed. Creamed honey is easier to handle, and when its done well, it has a melt-in-your mouth lusciousness.

But most consumers would be forgiven for being confused about what makes it different from normal honey. That’s not just because it has a lot of different names in the marketplace, including whipped honey, soft-set honey, pot-set honey.

Creamed honey also looks a lot like crystallized honey, sometimes called candied or granulated honey.

So this article tries to explain the difference.

It doesn’t say so on the label, but Aldi’s Mixed Blossom honey is mostly Chinese.

That’s what customer service told me today when I rang to enquire.

“Its 60% Chinese and 40% Australian” she said.

I rang customer service to ask about it because the labels don’t say where the honey comes from.

 But I was also confused about the difference between Aldi’s 375gms squeeze pack and its 1 kg tubs. The label on the 1 kg tubs says it has at least 30% Australian ingredients, but its 40% on the smaller 375gms squeeze pack.

“Is it different honey” I asked?

She said the information was the same for both – 60% Chinese and 40% Australian.

Beekeepers are reporting likely price increases and supply shortages for leatherwood and manuka honey later this year.

Unseasonably wet weather in February 2017 hit leatherwood production in Tasmania, whilst unsuitable conditions have also been blamed for a poor Manuka honey harvest in New Zealand.

New scientific research has been published showing that many Australian manuka honeys are at least as potent as those produced in New Zealand.

Moreover some of them appear to be even stronger, with significant potential for use in medical and health related applications.

Manuka – the biography of an extraordinary honey

By Cliff van Eaton

When Aaron Phipps appeared on the BBC televisions Healthcheck programme back in late 2000, his amazing story was a milestone in the world’s awakening to the extraordinary healing power of Manuka honey.

The Southampton teenager had contracted meningitis, and then meningococcal septicaemia. Skin grafts failed to take, wounds refused to heal and at one point he was in such pain that doctors put him an induced coma for two weeks.

Finally, after both his legs and the tips of all his fingers had been amputated, and after nine months of torment, his wounds were treated with Manuka honey.  They healed in 3 weeks.

Phipps has gone on to become a champion disabled rugby player, representing the UK at the 2012 Olympics and in 2016, set more incredible firsts by crawling and climbing his way to the top of Mount Kilamanjaro in Africa.

But, as Cliff van Eaton recounts in his excellent book, it was his BBC interview that prompted the first really significant spike in demand for Manuka honey in the UK.