Manuka honey company awaits ratings decision

A court decision over ratings for Masterton-based manuka honey company Watson and Son will not halt their potentially multimillion charge into global medical markets.
The company, one of the largest manuka honey exporters in the country that was this year named the fastest-growing firm in New Zealand, is now awaiting a judgment from the High Court in Hamilton after seeking to stay actions by the Active Manuka Honey Association preventing their use of a UMF (unique manuka factor) rating system.
The association operates the UMF testing and branding scheme for manuka honey, which under the system is compared against different concentrations of a standard laboratory disinfectant, phenol.
Manuka Health New Zealand chief executive Kerry Paul said the association is seeking to revoke the Watson and Son licence to use the UMF system on the basis its honey was below label claim.
Watson and Son owner and scientist Denis Watson said yesterday the outcome of the court case would have no bearing on the company development of medical applications for active manuka honey. He said the firm is "investing heavily into medical applications for its honey" and that active manuka honey is widely recognised around the world as having unique antibacterial properties.
"Irrespective of this judgment, Watson and Son are emerging as a major developer of medical applications for active manuka honey. The medical applications of the honey that we are developing will establish new standards related to its use in advanced wound care. These are exciting developments and have the potential to be worth millions of dollars to New Zealand. The UMF licence is not relevant to these."
Over the next five years, pending regulatory approval, the company proposes to develop more than 20 medical products including skin treatments, lip balms, throat lozenges and wound dressings.
The court last month heard Watson and Son had been named the Deloitte Fast50 fastest-growing company in New Zealand with revenue growth of 784 per cent in the past two years, although withdrawal of its UMF licence would place its future in jeopardy.
UMF system inventor Peter Molan, also University of Waikato Honey Research Unit head, gave written evidence to Justice Pankhurst during the hearing on behalf of the Masterton firm that UMF tests on the same sample could return results varying by plus or minus 2 points on a 20-point test.
Test refinements he had recommended had not been introduced by AMHA, the court was told.
Watson and Son lawyer Daniel Hughes said the UMF testing regime was "inherently unreliable" and he believed there was bias on the association executive.
Mr Paul said his company had known for many years repeat UMF tests on the same sample could change by more than 25 per cent.
He said that since the court hearing a rift had appeared between the association and Professor Molan, who, despite a 15-year involvement with the organisation, "has now dissociated himself completely from both the organisation and UMF".
"This is the most significant development in the industry since the discovery of methyglyoxal, which is responsible for the reliable antibacterial activity found only in some manuka honey."
Mr Paul said more consumers would turn to the methyglyoxal-based manuka honey system his company launched last year that the UMF system predates.
He said the UMF scheme also fails to distinguish itself from other manuka honey rating systems like Active, which measured a different and unstable type of antibacterial activity.