Awareness
A comparison of the size of global markets with the production of active manuka honey in New Zealand suggests that about half of the active manuka honey sold around the world is not as active as claimed on the label, is blended with other honeys, or is not even manuka honey at all. The lack of regulatory supervision in the U.S. leaves the consumer unprotected against these practices. However, there are steps buyers can take to ensure the legitimacy of the product. We have compiled the following list of unethical practices in the manuka honey industry:
1. Misrepresentation of the activity ratings
This is by far the most common problem, and it done at several levels. Often, samples sent to labs for activity testing are taken from drums instead of retail jars, as regulated in certified honeys. After sampling, the honey is blended with manukas having little or no activity, but the retail jars are labeled with the results of the drum honey. In many cases, sellers make vague statements about activity, such as “moderately active”, which essentially have no meaning.
2. Heating
Heating results in artificially high levels of activity. Ethical producers will not heat the honey prior to testing.
3. Labeling of honeys other than manuka
Some South African honeys have a taste similar to manukas but are not active. These honeys are often packaged as manuka honey. Honey from China is also suspected to be laundered through third countries and sold as manuka. This is particularly dangerous because toxic antibiotics are frequently used in China to control the growth of a highly contagious bacterial epidemic that has destroyed two-third of the hives in that country.
4. Errors in activity assays
Whereas this is generally a result of careless laboratory work rather than intentional misrepresentation, it nevertheless results in erroneous determinations of activity. The first problem is incomplete digestion of the natural peroxide present in honey. All honeys contain peroxide which, of course, has antimicrobial activity. To assess the special activity of manukas it is essential to remove peroxides using an enzyme called catalase. Incomplete digestion with catalase results in leftover peroxide and thus an artificially high activity rating. The second problem is the use of oxidized or impure solutions of phenol. In the standard assay described by Dr. Molan, phenol is the reference compound. Impure or oxidized phenol also results in inaccurately high activity ratings. It is important to note that purity of the phenol standard is a requirement in the new Molan Gold Standard procedure.