As the group tasked with protecting mānuka honey from offshore exploitation continues its work, a Mānuka Charitable Trust Symposium to reaffirm their position was held on September 26.

In our June edition report “Australian Attack ‘Disrespectful and Misleading’, Says Mānuka Charitable Trust”, we laid bare the awkward truth of the intimate relationship between Hive & Wellness Australia Pty Ltd and Comvita Ltd. In this report, Bruce Roscoe sketches the historical context of that closeness and unearths a trove of details that illuminate the fullness of the cooperation.

The owner of Capilano, Australia's biggest-selling manuka honey brand, has launched a blistering attack on New Zealand manuka honey, throwing facts and decorum to the wind and sinking trans-Tasman honey ties to a new low.

The Capilano Honey leaflet that berates New Zealand mānuka honey as inferior to Australian mānuka honey in seven categories reads as an enemy act. Yet from the viewpoint of marketers, Capilano has done the right thing.