New Zealand mead brand Lone Bee is hoping to strengthen its exports to South East Asia by entering a major supermarket, and is on the lookout for regional partners for potential new flavour collaborations.
New Zealand’s manuka industry is being accused of misleading consumers after it alleged honey derived from species other than the Leptospermum outside of New Zealand is inauthentic.
APAC companies are starting to tap into growing demands for health foods and dietary supplements in the Middle East after the COVID-19 pandemic stirred consumer interest in preventive health.
The Australian manuka honey industry has gathered over 5,000 pages of information to fight back in court against New Zealand’s recent attempts to trademark the name ‘manuka’ for its honey, after failed attempts to reach a truce.
Australia and New Zealand have been involved in a battle over the latter’s bid to trademark the term ‘manuka’ in China for months, with no end in sight and increasingly terse accusations flying back and forth across the Tasman Sea.
Honey companies and Maori collectives have met with Kiwi government representatives at a hui (Maori assembly), seeking faster government action and a better solution to issues wrought by recently implemented mānuka honey regulations.
New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries has released manuka honey labelling interim guidelines to clarify what claims can be made and what constitutes the widely counterfeited and vaguely regulated variety of honey.
A PhD student at New Zealand’s Lincoln University has found that nearly half of mono-floral honey bought from supermarkets in the country were not true to their labels.
A team of New Zealand scientists recently reported that they have identified a unique marker molecule in manuka honey, which is believed to be associated with the honey’s unique antibacterial activity.
