The Grocer special investigation - 6 out of 7 jars tested have no special activity

The Great Manuka Honey Swindle - the UK's The Grocer has conducted a special investigation in manuka honey sold to consumers and finds awkward questions of the results of 6 out of 7 jars! (Saturday 28 June 2014)

Well, while it may be a bit of a shock to some consumers, actually the findings are probably of little surprise to industry insiders.

The article nails the core problem on the head in a quote from the testing laboratory: "The consumer expects active manuka honey to have the special properties that make it different from other honey types - in other words, NPA (non-peroxide activity, which is unique and stable) - this is what justifies the premium price of the product."

There is nothing actually new in that statement, which begs the question as to why so many companies / brands sell jars that have only been (supposedly) tested for the unstable hydrogen peroxide activity?

So, just which were the brands tested by The Grocer who have big questions to answer?

Aldi Specially Selected Manuka Honey - labelled Active 10+ - no npa detected

Pure Earth Raw Manuka Honey - labelled Active 30+ - no npa detected, and even peroxide activity only 17.5

Pure Gold - labelled Active 18+ - bought from Holland & Barrett - no npa detected, and peroxide activity only 12.5

Queen Bee - labelled Active 25+ - no npa detected, and even peroxide activity only 11.5

True Manuka Honey - labelled Active 25+ - no npa detected, and no only trace peroxide activity found.

Wedderspoon 100% Raw Manuka Honey - labelled 16+ - no npa detected, and no peroxide active detected.

The one jar that was found to be true to label, and to actually contain the special non-peroxide activity that genuine manuka honey should have, was the Medibee brand UMF10+, which had npa at 10.5

UMF is a licensed quality standard, that rate the potency based only on the special non-peroxide activity, as well as checking for a wide range of quality controls.

Pretty damming findings really. The question becomes whether Trading Standards or the Food Standards Agency will take any notice this time.

http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/manuka/