Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye today announced consultation has begun to define manuka honey to enable truth in labelling.
"The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will be asking the honey industry, scientists and other interested stakeholders for their say through this consultation process," Ms Kaye says.
"The New Zealand honey industry has been working for many years to come up with an accurate way to label, market and brand manuka honey and unfortunately has been unable to reach consensus. There is no international standard for a definition of manuka honey.
"Recently, the authenticity of some New Zealand manuka honey has been queried in overseas markets. This puts the integrity of our country's export reputation at risk and so steps need to be taken to ensure consumer confidence.
"It is important that New Zealand manuka honey label claims are correct and can be substantiated by science.