Toxins Confirmed in New Zealand Honey that Sickened 22

Food Safety Eye Regulation of Tutin Poisons in Honey
NZPA, 4/28/2008

Food safety experts are scrambling to obtain quantities of the toxins tutin and hyenanchin -- implicated in the Easter honey poisonings -- so that they can pin down their exact toxicity and possibly set regulatory limits…

At present, regulators only require apiarists to record information on the risk of tutu toxins entering their honey and the actions they have taken to mitigate the risk. Few checks are made on the records until after an outbreak of poisoning.

Test results released today confirmed that the two tutu toxins were in comb honey from the Coromandel Peninsula eaten by 22 people who reported falling ill…