NZ food safety officials to modify honey tutin rules

New Zealand food safety officials will press ahead with a modified standard for the maximum content of the poison tutin in honey.
Tough controls were placed on the deadly neurotoxin last year after contaminated honeycomb at Whangamata poisoned 22 people in late 2008.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has prepared a draft food standard and a revised compliance guide for beekeepers, and has asked for submissions until November 12.
An earlier review, in June, outlined the consequences of revoking the standard and sought comment on that option, but the authority has since said it will not set a limit for tutin different to the one in the Food Standards Australia New Zealand code.
``Beekeepers will not be left to manage the tutin problem on their own,'' an NZFSA spokeswoman said today.
The original submissions were fairly evenly split between retention of the standard and revocation, but all the national representative organisations involved wanted a standard retained.
A review of the 2008 standard found testing extracted honey remained the most effective and reliable method.
Comb honey was a higher-risk product because tutin distribution within the comb could be quite variable, and undiluted by pooling of honey.
Tutin doesn't harm bees, but gets into honey when bees collect honeydew excreted by passion vine hopper insects which have been feeding on the native tutu plant.
Symptoms for people who have ingested tutin in honey include vomiting, delirium, giddiness, increased excitability, stupor, coma, and violent convulsions.