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Download AudioThe chair of the Manuka Charitable Trust says British customers will be sold a lemon because of the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office’s rejection of a trademark application for manuka honey.
The decision has been welcomed by Australian producers, who say they’re keen to be part of a market that could be worth more than $1.2 billion by 2027.
The IPO found manuka honey was also being made from manuka trees growing in Cornwall.
Pita Tipene says the IPO decided manuka was merely a descriptive term for a type of honey, rather than referring specifically to honey made from the nectar of New Zealand manuka or leptospermum scoparium.
“We have a guaranteed, cast iron, consistent level of product and that when you are looking for an orange you will get an orange. But in Australia, what they call manuka honey comes from all sorts of trees. Who knows what you will get? You can go to the supermarket looking for an orange and you will be sold a lemon,” he says.
New Zealand manuka honey producers are considering an appeal, and they are also looking at how the precedent could affect trademark applications in other countries.
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