Honey firm stung over false labels

A company and its former director were fined a total of $35,000 in Auckland District Court for making false representations about the natural antibacterial activity of honey, the Commerce Commission says.

Tomorrow Dream Line and former director Sang Rae Kim had admitted labelling honey jars with representations about Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) content.

But the company had no knowledge of whether the honey was in fact Active Manuka Honey or whether it had any UMF rating, the commission said.

The company had also used a producer's genuine UMF labels, bearing the producer's name as packer, to re-label non-UMF honey packed by an unknown party.

A UMF rating measured the natural antibacterial activity of certain manuka honey and UMF was a registered trademark, the commission said.

Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said honey with a UMF rating sold at a premium over ordinary manuka honey and could be up to ten times the normal retail value of ordinary honey.

"Over 2500 jars of honey with the misleading UMF labels were sold by Tomorrow Dream Line - which would have meant a profit of over $27,000 due to the premium prices charged," Ms Rebstock said.

The honey was sold through the company's Auckland Dream Line Souvenir shops and other tourist outlets.

Judge Stan Thorburn had fined Tomorrow Dream Line and Kim $20,000 and $15,000 respectively for breaching the Fair Trading Act, with total court costs of $520, the commission said.

Proceedings began in September.

- NZPA