Food fraud across many products is a growing problem around the world. This is not just an issue with honey (although it is one of the most common ones), but can involve almost any food or drink product (wine also facing a number of problems). And as demand increases and supply becomes harder it is only likely to face further increase.
But could the answer be a type of 'DNA fingerprinting'?
Some scientists have been working on testing and measuring a unique profile for each product, narrowing it down also to the specific area in which it was produced.
If you've ever watched episodes of CSI and similar programs you will have noticed them analysing samples of virtually anything to find chemical identifiers. In the real world there are a growing number of laboratories that a wider range of people can access to carry out similar testing. It turns out that when it comes to foods, the differences in soil, climate, and even the type and quantity of fertiliser that may have been used on the soil all leave little markers that modern testing can identify and use to compare samples.
The BBC has recently done an article on this 'fingerprinting' of foods and the assistance to fighting fraud and false labelling that provides. Their article, which provides a good explanation, can be read here: Food fraud tackled by forensic scientists.
Although there is still more work to be done, it is becoming possible to show that a French wine from Chateux X really is from there, or that a jar of manuka honey really is actually manuka and has come from New Zealand (or not as the case may be).
Our only wish would be that the relevant authorities around the world will be quick to make use of these testing and verifying opportunities in order to tackle cases of fraud and mislabelling that occur, and provide some protection to consumers.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Manuka Honey Quality Questioned - NZ News Report
As just reported in New Zealand's main newspaper - The New Zealand Herald - a university PhD student has found that fewer than half of the 26 manuka honeys she tested were 'true to label'.
Although this is a new 'news story' in terms of the testing and results found by Lincoln university, it is not new 'news' in terms of the actual issues over the quality and truthfulness of labelling of honey.
Some of it is related to lack of consensus over definitions (eg what constitutes a mono-floral honey), and plenty of it is down to dubious or straight out unscrupulous practices.
Importantly it should be noted that some of the issues highlighted in this story do not only affect manuka honey, and that globally honey (i.e all honeys) has been placed in the top 3 of foods that have food fraud problems.
A couple of important corrections should be made to the NZ Herald article as written (journalistic errors do not help matters): The newspaper articles states that "manuka honey's high level of antioxidants and hydrogen peroxide - which aid its antimicrobial or bug-killing activity - ... make it more expensive than other products". Actually hydrogen peroxide activity exists in all honeys and is not what makes manuka well sought after. Rather it is a unique non-peroxide activity that only some manuka honey (not all) contains that provides additional stable antibacterial powers, and is what much of the supporting research is based on.
Also at the end of the article we believe that the journalist has got her prices mixed up, and the higher figure should relate to this year, being up from last year, due to the increased worldwide demand and the much lower harvest this year from poor weather.
Those two points noted, here is the link to the Herald article you can read for yourself:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841750
Next, it should be pointed out that pollen counts, and how 'pure' a mono-floral honey is, is a separate issue from the antibacterial potency of the honey which is what most people are interested in manuka honey for. The pollen count aspect applies to any type of honey, and it relevant around the world. The problem is that there is a shortage of supply of good quality manuka honey, and many beekeepers are able to make significantly more money from mixed honey (eg may contain some manuka source, but equally has lots from other plants flowering at the same time, and is essentially a blended product at best, and often merely a general bush honey) by labelling it as 'manuka' due to whatever small percentage of manuka it may contain.
It comes down to simple human nature - when (according to this research) more than half of products are labelled incorrectly, that is a significant portion of beekeepers who are making good money from doing what they currently are - there is only a disincentive (lower income) for them to reach a consensus on a definition and agreed pollen count ratio for what can be labelled as manuka. This is an area that really requires some government / authorities action in determining the rules.
Manuka honey has become renowned for its unique antibacterial and healing properties. In reality it is only some manuka honey that actually contains these extra benefits, and it is based on the existence of the extra non-peroxide activity in some batches. This is something separate and different to the pollen count, and is tested and measured differently. So you could have two samples of honey with different pollen count measures, eg one that is 90% manuka pollen and another that is 80%, yet that in itself does not determine their antibacterial or antimicrobial potency.
The accepted international standard firstly discounts that hydrogen peroxide activity (contained in all types of honey), and isolates the non-peroxide activity, which is then measured and compared to phenol as a comparison standard.
Under the UMF® quality standard, only the measure of non-peroxide activity is used to provide the rated strength (as this corresponds to some relevant research). Now an issue is that this is a voluntary standard, so that companies are not required to abide by it. And again there is some incentive for some not too. As the common hydrogen peroxide activity can also be tested for and measured, what some companies do is obtain a certified laboratory test for 'total activity', and include the hydrogen peroxide level in order to show a higher rating number. They can use terms such as 'Active' or 'Bio-Active' on the labelling with this, as there are no controls over use of these terms. Companies have to obtain a license and meet a wider set of quality standards in order to use the UMF® quality mark.
Thus (and using a known, proven example) you can have a jar labelled as 'Active 18+' where the rating is only derived from hydrogen peroxide and contains no detectable amount of non-peroxide activity. This is NOT equivalent to a jar labelled UMF® 18+ which is based on non-peroxide activity only. The other aspect is that peroxide activity can naturally dissipate, and in the example being referred to here, when the jar of 'Active 18+' was taken from a shop shelf and tested, it actually had no detectable level of any activity at all.
To show the relative existence of the various potencies of manuka honey (i.e how much of each strength is harvested), have a look at these combined test results of manuka for 2012 here.
Despite the negative picture that this NZ Herald news story presents, it can also be seen in a positive light in helping make consumers a bit more wary of what is being presented to them, and hopefully it can also help stir the relevant authorities into taking some action and creating and enforcing some appropriate standards. The main point of that sentence being 'action', and not just making comments.
Although this is a new 'news story' in terms of the testing and results found by Lincoln university, it is not new 'news' in terms of the actual issues over the quality and truthfulness of labelling of honey.
Some of it is related to lack of consensus over definitions (eg what constitutes a mono-floral honey), and plenty of it is down to dubious or straight out unscrupulous practices.
Importantly it should be noted that some of the issues highlighted in this story do not only affect manuka honey, and that globally honey (i.e all honeys) has been placed in the top 3 of foods that have food fraud problems.
A couple of important corrections should be made to the NZ Herald article as written (journalistic errors do not help matters): The newspaper articles states that "manuka honey's high level of antioxidants and hydrogen peroxide - which aid its antimicrobial or bug-killing activity - ... make it more expensive than other products". Actually hydrogen peroxide activity exists in all honeys and is not what makes manuka well sought after. Rather it is a unique non-peroxide activity that only some manuka honey (not all) contains that provides additional stable antibacterial powers, and is what much of the supporting research is based on.
Also at the end of the article we believe that the journalist has got her prices mixed up, and the higher figure should relate to this year, being up from last year, due to the increased worldwide demand and the much lower harvest this year from poor weather.
Those two points noted, here is the link to the Herald article you can read for yourself:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841750
Next, it should be pointed out that pollen counts, and how 'pure' a mono-floral honey is, is a separate issue from the antibacterial potency of the honey which is what most people are interested in manuka honey for. The pollen count aspect applies to any type of honey, and it relevant around the world. The problem is that there is a shortage of supply of good quality manuka honey, and many beekeepers are able to make significantly more money from mixed honey (eg may contain some manuka source, but equally has lots from other plants flowering at the same time, and is essentially a blended product at best, and often merely a general bush honey) by labelling it as 'manuka' due to whatever small percentage of manuka it may contain.
It comes down to simple human nature - when (according to this research) more than half of products are labelled incorrectly, that is a significant portion of beekeepers who are making good money from doing what they currently are - there is only a disincentive (lower income) for them to reach a consensus on a definition and agreed pollen count ratio for what can be labelled as manuka. This is an area that really requires some government / authorities action in determining the rules.
Manuka honey has become renowned for its unique antibacterial and healing properties. In reality it is only some manuka honey that actually contains these extra benefits, and it is based on the existence of the extra non-peroxide activity in some batches. This is something separate and different to the pollen count, and is tested and measured differently. So you could have two samples of honey with different pollen count measures, eg one that is 90% manuka pollen and another that is 80%, yet that in itself does not determine their antibacterial or antimicrobial potency.
The accepted international standard firstly discounts that hydrogen peroxide activity (contained in all types of honey), and isolates the non-peroxide activity, which is then measured and compared to phenol as a comparison standard.
Under the UMF® quality standard, only the measure of non-peroxide activity is used to provide the rated strength (as this corresponds to some relevant research). Now an issue is that this is a voluntary standard, so that companies are not required to abide by it. And again there is some incentive for some not too. As the common hydrogen peroxide activity can also be tested for and measured, what some companies do is obtain a certified laboratory test for 'total activity', and include the hydrogen peroxide level in order to show a higher rating number. They can use terms such as 'Active' or 'Bio-Active' on the labelling with this, as there are no controls over use of these terms. Companies have to obtain a license and meet a wider set of quality standards in order to use the UMF® quality mark.
Thus (and using a known, proven example) you can have a jar labelled as 'Active 18+' where the rating is only derived from hydrogen peroxide and contains no detectable amount of non-peroxide activity. This is NOT equivalent to a jar labelled UMF® 18+ which is based on non-peroxide activity only. The other aspect is that peroxide activity can naturally dissipate, and in the example being referred to here, when the jar of 'Active 18+' was taken from a shop shelf and tested, it actually had no detectable level of any activity at all.
To show the relative existence of the various potencies of manuka honey (i.e how much of each strength is harvested), have a look at these combined test results of manuka for 2012 here.
Despite the negative picture that this NZ Herald news story presents, it can also be seen in a positive light in helping make consumers a bit more wary of what is being presented to them, and hopefully it can also help stir the relevant authorities into taking some action and creating and enforcing some appropriate standards. The main point of that sentence being 'action', and not just making comments.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Supply shortage in 2012
Both retailers and consumers are finding some issues over getting supply of good quality manuka honey, especially now in the later part of 2012.
Back at the beginning of the year, the New Zealand summer was rather a wet one. And bees don't really like going out flying and foraging for nectar when it is raining. Now the manuka plant only flowers for approximately 6 weeks, and when this coincided with more than normal rain last season, it has had quite an impact on the harvest of manuka honey this year. Different areas and different beekeepers have been affected at varying levels, but several have reported the quantity of their honey production to be down 40% compared to previous year.
The lower harvest, especially of good, credible quality manuka honey, has led to some supply issues, and together with the still growing worldwide interest has led to some quite noticeable price increases.
This also leads to increase risks of inferior honey, that does not actually contain the renowned extra antibacterial property, being misleadingly sold to meet the demand from the market.
It is probably important more than ever for both retailers and consumers to do some further research themselves on which are the most reputable brands. And they may need to accept some periods of 'out of stock' for affected products.
Hopefully the coming summer in New Zealand will be more normal weather wise, and the honey harvest can get back to previous levels. It should be remembered though that it is a natural product, and like vegetables and other crops will always be subject to the variances of mother nature.
Back at the beginning of the year, the New Zealand summer was rather a wet one. And bees don't really like going out flying and foraging for nectar when it is raining. Now the manuka plant only flowers for approximately 6 weeks, and when this coincided with more than normal rain last season, it has had quite an impact on the harvest of manuka honey this year. Different areas and different beekeepers have been affected at varying levels, but several have reported the quantity of their honey production to be down 40% compared to previous year.
The lower harvest, especially of good, credible quality manuka honey, has led to some supply issues, and together with the still growing worldwide interest has led to some quite noticeable price increases.
This also leads to increase risks of inferior honey, that does not actually contain the renowned extra antibacterial property, being misleadingly sold to meet the demand from the market.
It is probably important more than ever for both retailers and consumers to do some further research themselves on which are the most reputable brands. And they may need to accept some periods of 'out of stock' for affected products.
Hopefully the coming summer in New Zealand will be more normal weather wise, and the honey harvest can get back to previous levels. It should be remembered though that it is a natural product, and like vegetables and other crops will always be subject to the variances of mother nature.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Some Background Information...
It makes sense to start with some background information on just what Manuka honey is.
Although some people can wonder whether there is a special type of bee involved, that is not the case. It is all about the particular plant and flowers that the bees visit.
If you place a hive of bees in an average field, or general forest area, the bees visit lots of different types of flowers and will produce a multifloral honey - which is the most commonly available style. If instead the hive is placed in a particular location surrounded by a large amount of a particular plant, and at the time of year when it is mostly that plant flowering, then they will produce a mono-floral honey, i.e reflecting that predominant flower.
Thus if the hive is in the lavender fields during its flowering season you get lavender honey. Likewise from an area of many Acacia trees when they are flowering producers acacia honey.
No natural jar of honey will be 100% of a single type, as obviously there will be some other flowers about that the bees do visit, but it should be predominantly so.
It is the same with Manuka. Manuka is a plant, that is native to New Zealand (and hence this particular type of honey does only come from New Zealand). Some refer to it as a bush, others as a tree, but the Manuka plant - Leptospermum Scoparium - mostly grows wild naturally throughout much of the North Island of New Zealand.
There are a number of sub-species of Manuka, which is known to affect the properties within the honey, but we'll touch on that more in a later post.
The Manuka bush only has a short flowering period - approximately 6 weeks, and so there is only a small 'production' period each year.
In the early 1980's scientists from the Waikato University in New Zealand confirmed that some strains of Manuka honey contained an additional, unique property not found in any other type of honey. This extra, naturally present, very stable and powerful non-peroxide antibacterial property is what subsequent research has found to provide many benefits over and above other honeys. It is this extra property that only some manuka honey contains that have earned its positive reputation.
As a natural product, you get natural variation. Which is why credible testing of the honey is important proving which batches do contain the additional property and which do not.
All honey is active to some degree, and can contain hydrogen peroxide activity (which isn't so stable). The unique antibacterial property Manuka's reputation and the supporting research is based on is over and above the normal active properties found in all honey. This extra non-peroxide property is also not found in all manuka honey.
Although some people can wonder whether there is a special type of bee involved, that is not the case. It is all about the particular plant and flowers that the bees visit.
If you place a hive of bees in an average field, or general forest area, the bees visit lots of different types of flowers and will produce a multifloral honey - which is the most commonly available style. If instead the hive is placed in a particular location surrounded by a large amount of a particular plant, and at the time of year when it is mostly that plant flowering, then they will produce a mono-floral honey, i.e reflecting that predominant flower.
Thus if the hive is in the lavender fields during its flowering season you get lavender honey. Likewise from an area of many Acacia trees when they are flowering producers acacia honey.
No natural jar of honey will be 100% of a single type, as obviously there will be some other flowers about that the bees do visit, but it should be predominantly so.
It is the same with Manuka. Manuka is a plant, that is native to New Zealand (and hence this particular type of honey does only come from New Zealand). Some refer to it as a bush, others as a tree, but the Manuka plant - Leptospermum Scoparium - mostly grows wild naturally throughout much of the North Island of New Zealand.
There are a number of sub-species of Manuka, which is known to affect the properties within the honey, but we'll touch on that more in a later post.
The Manuka bush only has a short flowering period - approximately 6 weeks, and so there is only a small 'production' period each year.
In the early 1980's scientists from the Waikato University in New Zealand confirmed that some strains of Manuka honey contained an additional, unique property not found in any other type of honey. This extra, naturally present, very stable and powerful non-peroxide antibacterial property is what subsequent research has found to provide many benefits over and above other honeys. It is this extra property that only some manuka honey contains that have earned its positive reputation.
As a natural product, you get natural variation. Which is why credible testing of the honey is important proving which batches do contain the additional property and which do not.
All honey is active to some degree, and can contain hydrogen peroxide activity (which isn't so stable). The unique antibacterial property Manuka's reputation and the supporting research is based on is over and above the normal active properties found in all honey. This extra non-peroxide property is also not found in all manuka honey.
Friday, September 28, 2012
First Post for Manuka Honey Expert
Ah, first post dilemma, just what should we say?
Well, I guess the main point is that per the name of this blog - "Manuka Honey Expert" - we aim to live up to that title over time through a mixture of useful background information and industry insider tips and news.
In a process similar to the concept of 'natural selection' we will inevitably showcase, reference, link to, and otherwise indicate certain other sites and sources more often than others. We will make no apologies for this, and it simply reflects some of our expert links and knowledge, and sources that are trustable for actual consumers. It may be that we reference source in one country (eg New Zealand or UK) and you may be a visitor from somewhere else (eg Australia, Malaysia, USA, or elsewhere). However the referencing will be done on the basis that the actual information is useful and relevant for the majority of readers.
When it comes to actual products, if we have referenced something that is not available to you in your particular location, then you are welcome to simply make use of the information, and choose an alternative product source for where you happen to be. It is inevitable that we will reference some websites much more predominantly, that we have repeatedly found to contain good information and the right quality products, based on our insider industry knowledge.
We are trusting our readers to be intelligent enough to judge the quality of the information we provide or reference, and to make use of any links provided when it suits you, but also to do your own additional research if you want to.
With regards to comments attempted on posts we make, whilst we are happy to allow constructive and factual comments, the nature of the internet is that spam is very prevalent, and many commenters are mainly after a link to their own site for their own purpose. Plus the internet is filled with completely false and or misleading information, as anyone can promote their own material regardless of how accurate, factual, or otherwise, it actually is. Thus please do not be upset if we decline or subsequently delete your comment at our own sole discretion.
Hmm, all that sounds rather formal and serious without actually saying anything about manuka honey. Not to worry, it gets a first post in the setting up of this blog done and illustrates some of our aims. New posts will soon be made that start talking about what is so good about certain manuka honey.
Well, I guess the main point is that per the name of this blog - "Manuka Honey Expert" - we aim to live up to that title over time through a mixture of useful background information and industry insider tips and news.
In a process similar to the concept of 'natural selection' we will inevitably showcase, reference, link to, and otherwise indicate certain other sites and sources more often than others. We will make no apologies for this, and it simply reflects some of our expert links and knowledge, and sources that are trustable for actual consumers. It may be that we reference source in one country (eg New Zealand or UK) and you may be a visitor from somewhere else (eg Australia, Malaysia, USA, or elsewhere). However the referencing will be done on the basis that the actual information is useful and relevant for the majority of readers.
When it comes to actual products, if we have referenced something that is not available to you in your particular location, then you are welcome to simply make use of the information, and choose an alternative product source for where you happen to be. It is inevitable that we will reference some websites much more predominantly, that we have repeatedly found to contain good information and the right quality products, based on our insider industry knowledge.
We are trusting our readers to be intelligent enough to judge the quality of the information we provide or reference, and to make use of any links provided when it suits you, but also to do your own additional research if you want to.
With regards to comments attempted on posts we make, whilst we are happy to allow constructive and factual comments, the nature of the internet is that spam is very prevalent, and many commenters are mainly after a link to their own site for their own purpose. Plus the internet is filled with completely false and or misleading information, as anyone can promote their own material regardless of how accurate, factual, or otherwise, it actually is. Thus please do not be upset if we decline or subsequently delete your comment at our own sole discretion.
Hmm, all that sounds rather formal and serious without actually saying anything about manuka honey. Not to worry, it gets a first post in the setting up of this blog done and illustrates some of our aims. New posts will soon be made that start talking about what is so good about certain manuka honey.
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