The honey is high on the list for fraud, with possibly four out of every five jars are fake.
- Real Manuka honey produced mainly in New Zealand
- NZ actually produces 1,700 tons but estimated 10,000 tons of supposedly Manuka honey sold around the world
- Manuka-labelled honey sold by some British stores and online via Amazon not genuine
A recent research commissioned by The Sunday Times has discovered that the world’s most precious – and most expensive – honey may not be the real deal after all.
Commonly found in health shops and believed by some to contain healing properties, manuka honey is thick and dark brown, and is produced by placing beehives close to flowering wild manuka bushes that are found mainly in New Zealand’s vast countryside.
The research was conducted by Fera, a privately-run British science agency. A mass spectrometer analysis compared genuine manuka to manuka-labelled honey that is sold in British stores and online via Amazon. The researchers found that the genuine honey contained four specific compounds that could not be detected in any of the retailers’ manuka.
High-end London grocer Fortnam & Mason cleared all the manuka honey off its shelves after tests indicated that it might not be genuine. The manuka honey sold by Holland & Barrett had also failed the tests.
According to The Australian, an estimated 10,000 tons of supposed manuka honey is sold around the world every year, although only 1,700 tons of it are actually produced in New Zealand.