New Zealand and Australia Prepare to Fight (Again) for Precious and Profitable Mānuka Honey | New Zealand


THELong before the name Mānuka became synonymous with a booming honey industry, celebrity endorsements and protracted world conflicts, it was known in Maori legend. After Tāne Mahuta, the god of forests, separated his parents from their locked embrace, he set out to cover Papatūānuku (his mother earth) with trees. One of these trees, born from his union with Tawake-Toro, was the Mānuka, with its dense and thorny foliage, delicate white flowers and unique pollen.

Mānuka is considered a taonga, or treasure, of which the Maoris are considered the kaitiaki (guardians). The Maori legend and relationship with Mānuka has become an important tool in a global battle to protect the Mānuka brand of honey from Aotearoa in New Zealand, the bitterest part of which lies between New Zealand and Australia.

The lucrative honey is produced from bees feeding on the pollen of the Leptospermum scoparium plant, native to Australia and New Zealand, and is renowned for its antibacterial properties. In New Zealand it is called Mānuka, in Australia it is more commonly referred to as Tea Tree, but the word Manuka (without macron, which is used to indicate a long vowel) has been in common use in Tasmania for at least 100 years. years.

Both countries make honey, both label it Mānuka, or variations of it, and both have multi-million dollar export industries that depend on this brand.

Some New Zealand lots with a particularly high UMF (Unique Mānuka Factor) rating sell for between NZ $ 2,000 and 5,000 per jar at luxury stores like Harrods in London. Its value and global demand have led to a series of crimes in New Zealand, with reports of beehive thefts, secret poisonings and brawls between beekeepers over land use.

Australian beekeepers fear that they will no longer be able to produce highly lucrative Manuka honey. Photograph: Gregory Plesse / AFP / Getty Images

A fight over who can claim Mānuka’s name has also raged for years between Australia and New Zealand, with the latest showdown fast approaching.

New Zealand’s Mānuka Honey Appellation Society first applied for the brand name in 2015, and the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office finally accepted in 2018. But the Australian Manuka Honey Association filed for a objection. A similar sequence of events unfolded in the UK, after his office accepted a trademark application in New Zealand and Australia objected – that hearing is due for reconsideration this month.

The hearing at the New Zealand office was scheduled to take place on August 18, but was canceled when the country entered a nationwide lockdown to eradicate a coronavirus outbreak. A decision on a new date is pending.

The Mānuka Charitable Trust – a group representing industry, iwi (tribes) and government – was formed after Australia filed its objection and will defend New Zealand’s name, backed by government funding of NZ $ 6 million.

Its president, Pita Tipene, said the goal was simple: to prevent the term Mānuka Honey from being used on products made outside of New Zealand.

“For Maori, it means our reo is respected and a precious taonga [treasure] is honored and protected. For consumers, this means they can be confident that they are getting genuine New Zealand-produced honey from our Mānuka trees. It also protects industry, export earnings and jobs.

Tipene compared their plight to that of France which is fighting to prevent wine producers from labeling their sparkling wines as champagne.

“Now anything labeled champagne has to come from that region,” he said. “For us, it goes even further because Mānuka is our taonga and our reo [language]. “

New Zealand was the only country in the world to have a formal scientific definition of Mānuka-derived honey, which was regulated by the Ministry of Primary Industries, Tipene said.

Bees on honeycomb in an apiary in New South Wales
Bees on honeycomb in an apiary in the Australian state of New South Wales. Photograph: Gregory Plesse / AFP / Getty Images

“This definition requires that all honey exported from New Zealand under the name ‘Mānuka honey’ (which includes variations on the name) meet testing requirements, ensuring that it is pure and conforms to labeling. This allows consumers to trust this authentic and unique New Zealand honey.

“Both countries are losers”

John Rawcliffe, chief executive of the UMF Honey Association, which verifies the authenticity and antimicrobial activity of Mānuka honey, said the brand was aimed at protecting what was unique to New Zealand.

Rawcliffe pointed out that Australia had 83 varieties of Leptospermum, which the industry classifies there under a broad umbrella like Manuka. Corn not all of these Leptospermum varieties are created equal.

“It’s like calling all species of citrus an orange,” he said.

“If they turn around and say, ‘I’m going to call these different Manuka honeys because I can quickly make a dollar out of them,’ that’s short term, it’s incorrect and it doesn’t help the consumer, nor does it. helps Australian beekeepers.

“It is absolutely essential to transform these products into an artisanal journey. If we don’t, we market it and destroy it, ”Rawcliffe said. “Both countries are losers because we both have a history of our land, our product and our environment. “

Manuka honey products in a supermarket in Beijing, China
Manuka honey products in a supermarket in Beijing, China. Photograph: Thomas Peter / Reuters

But Australia argues that New Zealand’s attempt to tag a plant’s name is wrong.

Australian Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) President Paul Callander said the anglicized word “Manuka” has been used in Australia for over 100 years.

“We will never use the Te Reo Māori version of the word, however, the word Manuka as we spell it has no meaning in the Maori language. We consider it an Australian word.

(Rawcliffe disputes this, saying that if someone added a macron to the word Harrods, or Penfolds, the name of an Australian wine producer, all hell would break loose.)

Callander said two Maori members of the AMHA board supported Australia’s position and that there was no “unified Maori approach” to protect the name.

“It’s not really about benefiting the Maori, it’s about controlling the industry.”

Callander said it was a false comparison to compare Mānuka to champagne. “Manuka is not a geographic name, it is a plant name, and is not entitled to place name protection.”

He said the industry was an uneven playing field with New Zealand dominating the market. Now the New Zealand association had added insult to injury by targeting individual Australian beekeepers trying to market their own products.

“If you go after the bankruptcy of our beekeepers, we’re going to be pretty upset. “

The AMHA produced a 5,000-page document for its legal challenge, but Callander said the preference would be for New Zealand and Australia to work together, share the name, collaborate in the market, and jointly set standards for industry.

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