Meeting May Help Resolve Medicinal Honey Dispute

Attempt to Settle Manuka Honey Dispute
Radio New Zealand, 6/23/2009

An attempt to resolve an increasingly bitter conflict over labelling and testing standards for manuka honey starts in Wellington on Tuesday.

The ministers of agriculture and food safety will be among those attending a meeting to explore ways of ending the row over measuring the unique antibacterial properties of the honey.

The Active Manuka Honey Association, the industry body that controls the use of the unique manuka factor, or UMF trade mark on honey products, has an on-going legal battle with a Masteron based honey company, Watson & Son.

Manuka Health New Zealand has challenged the UMF system by launching its own standard…

In a separate exercise, the bee industry is developing its first formal standard, to define 12 different varieties of New Zealand honey, including manuka…

See: Manuka Honey Industry in Bitter Dispute Over Antibacterial Standard