Leptospermum

New Zealand Mānuka Honey: Science Confirms Genetic Uniqueness And Urges Informed Choices For Consumers

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Honey, Skin care, Unique, UMF, Research, DNA, News, Common, Plant & Food Research, Plant, Immune system, AgResearch, Tree, Leptospermum

This news empowers consumers to make informed choices when seeking genuine mānuka honey with its renowned antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.

Key Points: 
  • This news empowers consumers to make informed choices when seeking genuine mānuka honey with its renowned antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
  • The Unique Mānuka Factor Honey Association (UMFHA), the trusted leader in mānuka honey quality and authentication, applauds the clarity for consumers of these latest findings.
  • The findings confirmed that mānuka trees from New Zealand and Tasmania (Australia) are genetically distinct enough to be considered separate species.
  • "Consumers choosing mānuka honey for its health benefits need accurate information to select the ideal product," says Tony Wright, CEO of the UMFHA.

How NZ's own law helped Australia win the Manuka Honey trademark war

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, June 4, 2023
Honey, Gaps, Science, Allergy, Tribunal, Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, Marketing, Intellectual property, Method, Infection, Alley, Trademark, Government, Certification, Plant, Common, Waitangi Tribunal, IPONZ, Mānuka honey, Knowledge, Bird, Hunting, Property management, Tea, Animal husbandry, Medical device, Crown, Leptospermum

The recent decision in “one of the most complex and long running” trademark cases in New Zealand was a loss for the country’s mānuka honey producers.

Key Points: 
  • The recent decision in “one of the most complex and long running” trademark cases in New Zealand was a loss for the country’s mānuka honey producers.
  • But it also served to highlight just how ill-equipped our laws are for protecting Māori taonga (treasures) and mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge).
  • Certification marks are a type of trademark where the owner independently certifies that their goods possess certain defined characteristics.

The question of distinctiveness

    • The mānuka case dates back to 2015, when New Zealand honey producers lodged an application for the Manuka Honey trademark.
    • The Australian Manuka Honey Association opposed the application, arguing the proposed trademark was merely descriptive and not distinctive.
    • Read more:
      Mānuka honey: who really owns the name and the knowledge

      The distinctiveness test involves assessing whether the “average consumer” would regard the certification mark as a normal way of designating characteristics of the goods in question.

Mānuka as taonga

    • Some scientists believe that Leptospermum scoparium likely originated in Australia and travelled to New Zealand before the last ice age, probably with the assistance of birds.
    • Mānuka, as both kupu and plant, is regarded as a taonga by Māori.
    • Much of the knowledge about the unique characteristics of mānuka is directly derived from mātauranga Māori.

Limitations of New Zealand IP law

    • The mānuka case reveals some of the gaps in the intellectual property system in Aotearoa, especially in relation to the protection of taonga plants and mātauranga Māori.
    • Assistant Commissioner of Trade Marks Natasha Alley said she “carefully considered” the taonga status of mānuka, in addition to tikanga Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi in deciding the case.

Protection of taonga and mātauranga Māori

    • The need to provide legal protection for taonga and mātauranga Māori – including through the intellectual property system – has been long discussed in Aotearoa.
    • The 1991 Wai 262 claim asked the Waitangi Tribunal to redress Crown laws and policies that denied Māori control over taonga, in violation of Te Tiriti.
    • In 2011, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a report containing specific recommendations about how New Zealand intellectual property laws should be reformed to ensure that taonga and mātauranga are protected.

MISSING THE MĀNUKA MARK

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Honey, Skin, UMF, DNA, DHA, Dihydroxyacetone, MGO, Research, MPI, Leptospermum, Plant, Wound healing, Unique, Happier Than Ever (song), Health, Ageing, Animal husbandry, Cosmetics, Security printing

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New scientific testing of honey brands claiming to be mānuka sold in the USA, has identified that 100 percent of the brands tested that were not from New Zealand are not genuine mānuka and miss key regulatory mānuka honey identification indicators2. That's the verdict of the compelling findings from the  Unique Mānuka Factor Honey Association (UMFHA), the world's only, independent, certified, quality system for mānuka honey. 

Key Points: 
  • That's the verdict of the compelling findings from the Unique Mānuka Factor Honey Association (UMFHA), the world's only, independent, certified, quality system for mānuka honey.
  • It is the only tree that produces nectar of the right composition to convert to mānuka honey with demonstrated health and wellness properties.
  • The results found that every one of these products failed to meet New Zealand regulatory criteria for authentic mānuka honey.
  • 3The UMFHA adds a certified quality standard to the MPI Mānuka Honey definition and requires Mānuka honey to include the following:
    Leptosperin, a critical marker of authenticity in New Zealand mānuka honey, produced only by the mānuka tree, that enters the bloodstream when consumed and is shown to be anti-inflammatory
    DHA (Dihydroxyacetone) - the precursor of MGO, an important indicator of the shelf life of MGO.