A jar of Manuka for 700 francs Is it all just a bluff - or what's the honey hype all about?
The extremely expensive manuka honey from New Zealand is said to help fight colds and heal wounds faster. Gwyneth Paltrow and Novak Djokovic are enthusiastic. What's really behind the superfood hype?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Manuka honey has been the talk of the town for several years now.
- The honey from New Zealand is said to help with inflammation, infections and minor wounds.
- Celebrities such as actress Gwyneth Paltrow and tennis star Novak Djokovic claim that they always have a jar of Manuka at home.
- At Globus am Bellevue in Zurich, a 250-gram jar of Manuka honey MGO 1500+ is currently on sale for 700 Swiss francs.
- Doctor and hobby beekeeper Adrian Frutiger from Trimmis in Graubünden is less than enthusiastic about the honey hype: "This price for half a pound is shameless and beyond all reason."
Last week I was shopping at Globus am Bellevue in Zurich and couldn't believe my eyes: a 250-gram jar of Manuka honey MGO 1500+ from The True Honey Co. in New Zealand was on sale for 700 francs.
What kind of miracle cure is this, I thought to myself.
I started researching and found out that manuka honey has been touted as a remedy for years. The sugary excretion product of bees is advertised with slogans such as "Manuka Health Honey", "Manuka Doctor", "sweet medicine" or "one of the most valuable natural products in the world".
Celebrities such as Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow claim that they always keep a jar of manuka honey at home. Duchess Meghan likes to eat the New Zealand honey for breakfast. And tennis ace Novak Djokovic is also said to regularly add a spoonful or two of manuka to his muesli.
Beekeeper Frutiger: "The price of 700 francs is shameless"
In the "Schweizerische Bienen-Zeitung" (issue 2/24), Adrian Frutiger writes about the miracle product from New Zealand under the title "Manuka honey: the big bluff". The retired doctor (intensive care medicine and anaesthesiology) lives in Trimmis GR and has been a hobby beekeeper for 46 years.
His enthusiasm for manuka honey is limited. "The price of 700 francs for half a pound is shameless and beyond all reason. At 1400 francs, the pound is a hundred times more expensive than a 500-gram jar of local Swiss honey," says Frutiger when asked by blue News.
The high price of Manuka honey is not related to the actual value of the product, but is part of a sophisticated marketing strategy.
"As a price for a simple jar of honey, it is grotesque; as a price for an exclusive trend product, it can't be high enough," says Frutiger. He continues: "In Switzerland, it is also forbidden by law to advertise honey with promises of salvation."
The honey bee was only introduced to New Zealand in 1839
There are 28 species of wild bees in New Zealand, 27 of which are native. These industrious insects help to pollinate the flora. However, these species do not store honey.
The honey bee only arrived in New Zealand in 1839. It was introduced by the English missionary Mary Bumby. According to Adrian Frutiger, who has been to New Zealand himself, the Maori, i.e. the members of the indigenous population, knew neither honey nor beekeeping until that time.
Today, the sweet and sticky foodstuff has long since become an important export. Alongside China, New Zealand is one of the world's largest honey exporters.
"Nobody spoke of manuka honey when the European honey bee was introduced", writes Adrian Frutiger in the "Schweizerische Bienen-Zeitung", "rather, the cloudy, somewhat earthy and bitter-tasting honey of the South Sea myrtle (editor's note: also called New Zealand myrtle or manuka) was regarded as inferior and allegedly even fed to livestock."
As manuka honey does not have an attractive flavor, it took the research of New Zealand biochemist Peter C. Molan. He began researching the antibacterial effect of honey in the 1980s.
Manuka honey has a pronounced antibacterial effect
In addition to the known bactericidal factors of acidity, osmolarity and hydrogen peroxide, Molan subsequently postulated that pure manuka honey contained a further component.
Due to a lack of precise identification, this property was initially referred to as UMF (unique manuka factor). Molan, who died in 2015, also discovered that manuka honey has a pronounced antibacterial effect against the two hospital germs Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Specialists in naturopathic medicine now recommend manuka honey to their patients for inflammations and infections, writes "ZDF Heute". These include, for example, gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori, as well as inflammation of the gums and throat.
The mystery of the mysterious "unique manuka factor"
The mystery surrounding the mysterious unique manuka factor was only solved in 2008 when Thomas Henle, a food chemist at the Technical University of Dresden, was able to identify the active ingredient as methylglyoxal (MGO).
Doctor and hobby beekeeper Adrian Frutiger writes in the "Schweizerische Bienen-Zeitung": "MGO does not occur in the nectar of the manuka flower, but only the precursor substance dihydroxyacetate (DHO), which is converted into methylglyoxal in the beehive during the thickening of nectar into honey."
And further: "The more DHO in the nectar, the more MGO in the honey. Manuka nectar contains a particularly high amount of DHO, and in the case of single-variety collection even a very high amount, which is why manuka honeys can contain high concentrations of MGO. Of course, other honeys also contain MGO, but in much lower concentrations. This additional bactericidal effect in Manuka honey forms the basis for its excited promotion."
Honey has been a sought-after superfood for years
Honey has been a sought-after superfood for years - and manuka honey from New Zealand in particular. The global demand can hardly be satisfied. The British "Daily Mail" writes: "A mystery how only 1700 tons of manuka honey are produced, but then 10,000 tons are sold."
So it seems that a large proportion of the manuka honey on offer could be fake. According to food chemist Thomas Henle on ZDF Heute, it is important for consumers to know that manuka honey is imported exclusively from New Zealand.
He added: "Customers who want to be as sure as possible that they are not buying a fake should look for the New Zealand government's Fernmark label."
Companies that equip their glasses with this label are recognized by the New Zealand government as reputable companies and are regularly inspected. However, there is no one hundred percent protection against counterfeiting or false information, says Henle.
Bees are flown by helicopter to remote areas
Doctor and hobby beekeeper Adrian Frutiger is not a fan of Manuka honey MGO 1500+ from The True Honey Co. in New Zealand, which is sold at Globus am Bellevue in Zurich for 700 Swiss francs per 250-gram jar, for another reason.
The company advertises by setting up its beehives in the most remote manuka forests, says the hobby beekeeper from Graubünden: "You can even see how this is done in pictures and videos: The bee colonies are flown by helicopter to the most remote areas, sometimes even to nature reserves, and then picked up again for harvesting."
Meanwhile, when asked by blue News, the Globus media department wrote: "Our UMF Manuka honey with an MGO content of 1500+ is an extremely valuable and exclusive product. There are fewer than five brands in the world that offer manuka honey in this concentration."
The harvest time for this honey from The True Honey Co. is limited to four to five weeks a year because it can only be harvested when the flowers of the manuka bush are still fresh.
He continues: "Timing is crucial here - as soon as the flowers start to wilt, the hives have to be removed. The True Honey Co. places the utmost importance on strict quality controls to guarantee 100 percent authentic, pure New Zealand UMF manuka honey, which stands out from other honeys due to its exceptional properties."
"We don't have to put up with this bluff"
And what does Adrian Frutiger think of the hype surrounding manuka honey?
"As a local hobby beekeeper with a few bee colonies, I can only marvel at how industrial beekeeping is carried out elsewhere and how aggressive marketing is used to turn what is actually a mediocre product into a cult product and shamelessly market it at a high price."
Incidentally,Bienen Schweiz, the umbrella organization of the beekeeping sections in German-speaking Switzerland and their cantonal associations, recommends a guide price of CHF 15 for a 500-gram jar of Swiss bee honey (without the gold seal).
A fair price for a carefully sourced natural product, says hobby beekeeper Frutiger. "There is no basis for the huge hype surrounding manuka honey. We don't have to put up with this bluff."
