Pure Earth Raw Manuka Honey
Label claim: Active 30+
Stockists: Amazon, Manuka Honey Direct, Natural Health World
Price: £27.99 (340g)
What the tests showed:
TA: 17.5
NPA: <9.5
The lab says: “The TA result of 17.5 is relatively high and does shows this honey has significant TA. However, the result does not substantiate the pack claim of ‘Active 30+’ honey even when the leeway for test variability of plus or minus 2 is taken into account.Furthermore, ‘activity’ in Manuka honey is typically, in our experience, predominantly derived from non-peroxide activity and despite the label making no specific claims or reference to NPA the result for NPA of ‘less than 9.5’ is atypical for active Manuka honey.”
The company says: “Our normal procedure when purchasing, processing and packing manuka honey is obtain the certification from a recognised and accredited laboratory in New Zealand prior to purchase,” says Jeremy Freeman of Natural Health, which runs the ManukaHoneyDirect.co.uk website. “When the honey arrives in the UK we check the batch details prior to processing and packing the honey. Once the honey has been packed and before it is put on sale, a random sample is then sent to a New Zealand laboratory to confirm that the honey is true to label. We do everything we can to make sure that our product is of the highest quality and that we can demonstrate that fact to anyone who enquires - as you are doing now. I feel our procedures demonstrate the proper due diligence customers should expect. The reason we do not test samples in the UK is that laboratories in the UK have a reputation for producing inconsistent and therefore unreliable results. The New Zealand labs are, in our experience, more experienced, consistent and reliable. I have attached the relevant test certificates for the batch of honey tested by Minerva. You can see that both certificates show the TA to be in the order of 30+ as stated on the jar - both tests are consistent and concur. We believe, based on the test certificate we received from our supplier and the test we subsequently commissioned, that this batch of Pure Earth Manuka Honey is certified to a Total Activity 30+. With regard to the New Zealand government’s proposed guidelines, I cannot really comment until they are released. I would hope that the guidelines will bring some transparency, consistency and simplicity back to the market place. We will also need to look at whether or not the guidelines comply with the EU honey CODEX.”
How the tests were conducted:
Tests were carried out by Minerva Scientific, one of Europe’s leading independent honey testing labs, on seven randomly selected manuka honeys. Minerva conducted two different tests on the samples - one for Non-Peroxide Activity (NPA) and one for Total Activity (TA). The test for NPA was a microbial inhibition plate bioassay based on the procedure developed by Professor Molan in New Zealand, for the measurement of the antibacterial qualities of manuka honey. The TA was measured using a modified version of the same plate bioassay to yield comparable results. All antibacterial activity was measured against phenol standards and expressed in % phenol equivalence. The uncertainty of measurement for the tests was estimated at +/-2% phenol equivalent - eg: a result of 10% phenol could lie anywhere from 8% to 12%. All the honeys are operating within the current laws.
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