The Mānuka Charitable Trust has expressed concerns about marketing by an Australian honey producer, which positioned its honey as equivalent to honey from the mānuka tree found in New Zealand.
Capilano has made claims that, in the Trust’s view, deliberately undermine the authenticity, cultural significance, and scientific uniqueness of honey derived from Mānuka, a native species of deep significance to Māori, located in New Zealand.
“As the national Māori representative voice for the indigenous taonga species known as Mānuka, we are concerned that marketing materials misrepresent both the origin and the identity of authentic products derived from Mānuka, and it is inappropriate and misleading,” said Victor Goldsmith, Chair at the Mānuka Charitable Trust.
Kristen Kohere-Soutar of the Mānuka Charitable Trust added that mānuka is more than honey - it’s an indigenous name, a unique New Zealand product, and part of Māori healing tradition.
“For genuine Mānuka honey, choose New Zealand-sourced. It ensures authenticity, supports indigenous rights, and upholds scientific integrity,” she said.
The Trust believes that using the term “mānuka” in Australian marketing is not only misleading, but also constituted a form of cultural appropriation and a challenge to the principles of fair trade and informed consumer choice.
“Australian honeys have their authentic names, origin and attributes. The word "mānuka" does not exist in the vernacular of Australia’s First Nations peoples, who have their own names for their distinct botanical honeys. The name mānuka is not Australia’s to use.”
The Trust’s position is supported by scientific evidence, which confirms that Leptospermum scoparium is an outdated classification that does not accurately reflect the significant genetic divergence between Leptospermum scoparium found in New Zealand and the Leptospermum species found in Australia.
The Mānuka Charitable Trust has been examining the global protection afforded by the geographical indication system used by France and Italy. Kohere-Soutar said the Trust wants to see the system adopted in New Zealand to protect the value of its mānuka products.
“Anyone around the world producing honey, calling it mānuka honey that's not come from New Zealand, would be stopped by courts from being able to trade. That's the kind of protection that we need here.”
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