| Abstract: |
The Ministry of Primary Industries has been warned by a top British food scientist that it is in danger of taking a wrong step in the battle against fake manuka honey producers. Dr Adrian Charlton from Britain's Food and Environment Research Agency food laboratory in York, where over 500 scientists work to protect the public from adulterated and mislabelled food, warned MPI not to tell the world's food watchdogs to test the authenticity of manuka honey by microscopic pollen analysis. Charlton, speaking at an Auckland seminar attended by manuka honey producers, was commenting on a proposal by MPI that a definition of what manuka honey is be based on "pollen count", the measurement of the concentration of pollen trapped in honey. A definition of manuka honey is being sought as part of a strategy to tackle fakery in the manuka honey business, which is blighting the industry's reputation and hindering its ability to become a half-billion-dollar-a-year export industry for New Zealand. |
