WELLINGTON, Aug 26 – New Zealand’s government said the country’s honey industry needs to quickly set guidelines for labeling after yet another international alert about a New Zealand food product, Xinhua news agency reported.
Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye told Radio New Zealand an international standard was needed for New Zealand’s distinctive manuka honey, which is prized for its allegedly unique health properties and sells at a premium around the world.
But the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency has issued a warning about misleading claims made on jars of some honey products, and New Zealand honey exporters say more manuka honey is being sold worldwide than New Zealand produces.
Kaye said she understood a meeting was being held this week between honey industry representatives and officials, and the Ministry for Primary Industries hoped to release the resulting guideline label standard over the next month.
The warnings from Britain about fake New Zealand manuka honey was more bad news for New Zealand’s brand reputation, already on the line after Fonterra’s botulism contamination alert this month, the main opposition Labor Party said.
The Ministry for Primary Industries had failed to step in when the industry acknowledged New Zealand was selling more manuka honey than it produced, Labor primary industries spokesperson Damien O’Connor said in a statement.
Labor and the opposition Green Party called for the certified testing of manuka honey in government certified laboratories.
“The solution to this recent issue is to set government regulations for manuka honey to be exported in properly labeled retail packs that have been through government certified testing,” Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steffan Browning said in a statement.
“Consumer confidence can be preserved if we set rules to ensure that all New Zealand produced honey, particularly manuka, is exported in retail packs not bulk so that the quality and labeling can be assured.”
New Zealand honey exports are reportedly worth about NZ$120 million (US$93.92 million) a year.
– BERNAMA
