All not sweet in honey industry

MANUKA HEALTH CEO Kerry Paul at the company’s Carlton Street base, with a jar of the company’s manuka honey and the tabloid ‘Manuka Expose’ the company has published. TC300508GJ01

Manuka Health, AMHA launch ‘stinging attacks’ on each other

The ‘honey wars’ between Te Awamutu-based Manuka Health New Zealand and Active Manuka Honey Association moved up a gear with publication of a tabloid newspaper last Thursday by Manuka Health. The tabloid ‘Manuka Expose´’ says a new test for manuka honey’s active anti-bacterial ingredient should be adopted as an industry standard.

The tabloid is being distributed to around 2500 suppliers, distributors and consumers. In it Manuka Health says the manuka honey industry needs to replace its Unique Manuka Factor test (supported by the Active Manuka Honey Association) with MGO manuka honey, which measures the naturally-occurring anti-bacterial constituent methylglyoxal.

Manuka Health New Zealand launched MGOTM manuka honey earlier this year.

To consumers it would appear to be a spat over ‘testing science’ - but there is plenty at stake. Sales of Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) honey and honey containing products, both locally and offshore, are estimated to represent more than NZD$100 million in annual turnover.

Manuka Health employs 17 people - 14 at its Te Awamutu headquarters in Carlton Street - and exports 70 products to 25 countries. It has risen rapidly from its inception in August, 2006 to become the second largest player in this country’s manuka honey industry.

In an article ‘Be Honest With Consumers’, Manuka Health chief executive Kerry Paul responds to criticism of methylglyoxal measurement by the developer of the UMF test, Professor Peter Molan of the University of Waikato. Dr Molan, co-director of the Honey Research Unit, has stated that methylglyoxal does not by itself account for the antibacterial activity of manuka honey.

‘‘Despite Dr Molan’s attempts to discredit MGOTM manuka honey, a scientific paper by another University of Waikato academic will later this year confirm methylglyoxal is the dominant antibacterial constituent of manuka honey,’’Kerry Paul says in ‘Manuka Expose´’. ‘‘UMF has not been well explained to the market and consumers can’t understand it. MGO manuka honey is a straightforward measurement of the ‘active ingredient’ which people relate to. ‘Multiple MGOTM manuka honey tests on the same sample produce the same results each time, but this doesn’t happen with UMF, which has been proven unreliable and a source of tension between beekeepers and manufacturers.

‘‘UMF has served the industry well for many years by providing an element of quality assurance,’’ Mr Paul says. ‘‘However, scientific progress has made it obsolete and the industry now needs to adopt MGO manuka honey as its standard measurement.’’

Last month, Active Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) terminated Manuka Health’s membership, stating that the company had breached the association’s membership rules. The AMHA made allegations that its tests had shownManuka Health packed and sold UMF honey that was not ‘true to label’.

‘‘As a result of the termination of membership, Manuka Health is no longer entitled to use the UMF trademark on any of its promotional materials and products, including those currently on shelf,’’ said AMHA brand manager, John Rawcliffe. ‘‘Manuka Health has also made a connection in its promotion of its products, between MGO levels and the levels associated with the UMF trademark. However, current testing has indicated that the correlation made is not accurate,’’ Mr Rawcliffe said. ‘‘The Active Manuka Honey Association refutes claims made on Thursday by Manuka Health that the rating test for the antibacterial effectiveness of UMF honey gives varying results for the same batch of honey.’’

Manuka Health says the AMHA invalidly terminated the company’s membership and revoked its licence to use the UMF brand. In ‘Manuka Expose´’ it makes startling claims about the accuracy and reliability of the UMF test and the honey industry’s treatment of those issues.

Meanwhile, the AMHA has distanced itself from promotional material released by Manuka Health which it says ‘‘is written in such a way that consumers could be led to believe that the company’s MGO-branded Manuka Honey could cure cancer’’.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the AMHA has slammed the publication of the tabloid by Manuka Health, labelling it a ‘‘smokescreen, intended to divert attention away from their (allegedly) illegal activities’’.

But Mr Paul says ‘‘AMHA has made an endless number of allegations over the past two and a half months of which none have any validity. Manuka Health is not subject to any investigation from the Police or Government agencies.’’ Mr Paul says Manuka Health has made complaints to the Police about theft of documents and its lawyers are preparing a case for damages.

A digital version of ‘Manuka Expose´’ is available online from the www.manukahealth.co.nz website.