Australian beekeepers have challenged a UK ruling giving their trans-Tasman rivals sole rights to use the coveted term

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A trans-Tasman fight has erupted over which country has the right to claim lucrative manuka honey as its own.

Manuka honey is produced from bees feeding on the pollen of the Leptospermum scoparium plant; known as “manuka” in New Zealand, and “tea tree” in Australia.

New Zealand’s manuka honey export industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, with the product highly valued for its antibacterial properties, as well as a prized ingredient in beauty treatments.

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Last month the UK trademark registry granted the New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society a certification mark for the term manuka honey. The certification means buyers in the UK will be guaranteed that manuka from New Zealand contains certain properties, while manuka honey produced in Australia will not carry this guarantee.

However, Australian beekeepers have challenged the ruling, saying the island state of Tasmania in Australia was the first in the world to produce the distinctive honey, which can fetch in excess of NZ$500 a jar in New Zealand shops.

In the registry’s decision, hearing officer Carol Bennett said: “The term manuka is a Māori word.”

“Although the plant Leptospermum scoparium is grown in areas outside of New Zealand, it is known by different ‘common’ names in those territories. Therefore, it is accepted that the term ‘manuka’ would be seen as designating a specific plant variety grown in New Zealand.”

But Blue Hills Honey co-owner Nicola Charles, who lives inTasmania, claims she had evidence that European bees were introduced to the area as early as 1884; eight years before New Zealand.

“Leptospermum scoparium originated in Tasmania and dispersed to New Zealand and lower Victoria, so we feel we have a moral case to still call it manuka, and not be cut out from a global market that’s got a potential to be a high revenue for Australia,” Charles told the ABC.

The Australian Manuka Honey Association [AMHA] has mounted a legal challenge in the UK to refute the trademarking of the term “manuka”, saying it will produce records from the 1800s to prove it was first produced in Australia.

According to the AMHA – which was only established in October 2017 – Australia has more than 80 manuka species, while New Zealand only has one.