Ed Gannon: Kiwis’ bid to hijack manuka honey leaves a sour taste
NEW Zealand is pushing for laws that would cripple Australia’s manuka honey industry, and threatens a trans-Tasman turf war, writes Ed Gannon.
Opinion
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WHAT’S in a name? Plenty, it seems, when it comes to food and beverage. There is a huge turf war going on across the world as countries flex their muscles to protect products that carry the name of cities, towns and locations.
ALDI MANUKA HONEY UNDER LOCK AND KEY
The most famous example has to be Champagne, the region of France that lends its name to the bubbly wine.
Once upon a time we sprayed around the champagne name like a victorious grand prix driver, branding any bubbly wine as champagne.
But then the good people of Champagne convinced authorities worldwide that only bubbles from grapes grown in that region could carry the champagne name.
The name claim has since spread, with many once common names now tied to geography.
Greece’s cheesemakers, for instance, have exclusive rights in Europe to the name feta for the cheese that originated in their country. That restriction extends to any nation that has a free trade agreement with the EU, meaning Australian “feta” in South Korea is now called “white cheese”.
A battle to restrict the name cheddar has been under way for some time; so too for Italy’s parmesan. There has even been talk Valencia oranges may be tied exclusively to that region of Spain.
Locally, the issue of geographic brands is a touchy subject. King Island is perhaps the most famous, with its cheese and then beef developing a reputation for quality, to the point the island’s dairy and beef industries, at one stage, had to be many times bigger than they actually were to produce the amount of goods carrying the King Island name.
The newest battlefield in the name war is manuka, as in the honey. The stuff you see in airport departure lounges for exorbitant prices.
Manuka is a scrubby bush that bees love, giving their honey a distinctive flavour.
My memory of manuka is of it providing the perfect environment for a thriving population of rabbits to reside in and under.
The way people rave about manuka honey, you would think it has some magic qualities.
We even have Kourtney Kardashian now praising its virtues on Instagram (if it is possible to use the words Kardashian and virtues in the same sentence).
Now New Zealand honey makers want to monopolise the billion-dollar manuka honey industry, marketing it with the line “Only from NZ”, and is pushing for laws to ensure honey labelled “manuka” and sold globally can come only from New Zealand.
But manuka — and the honey it produces — is not unique to New Zealand. Far from it.
Manuka trees are native to Australia and New Zealand. And 80 species of manuka are native to Australia while, according to Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chairman Lindsay Bourke, New Zealand has “just one”. And Australia produces a lot of manuka honey.
The local honey industry is fighting back, this week establishing the Australian Manuka Honey Association. “We’re the only two countries that produce it and the whole world needs it,” said Bourke. “We can’t understand what our Kiwi friends are trying to do.”
It is clear what they are trying to do. New Zealand has become the master of marketing. Its 100% Pure New Zealand slogan and logo has positioned the country as possibly the cleanest, greenest country in the world for food and even tourism.
It knows that if it can get manuka honey — which is already seen as a health wonder — wrapped up in its pure shroud, it is game over for anyone else.
And that includes the suckers across the ditch who would be left with a heap of scrubby trees to shelter those wonderful rabbits.
Ed Gannon is publisher of The Weekly Times
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