Bee-cause It Matters: Why Glyphosate Has No Place in Manuka Honey

We know; we're a bit obsessed with Manuka Honey. There's something that's so satisfying and nourishing about the velvety gold, superfood in its purest form – raw, straight from the hive and untouched. There's nothing like it, which is why we drizzle, swizzle and mix it into everything!

Like many of our fellow Manuka lovers out there, we recently became concerned about the issue of pesticide creep and cross contamination – particularly glyphosate – which has infiltrated areas of the modern food system. While all our Manuka Honey is exclusively produced by bees feeding off the Manuka bush on New Zealand's pristine North and South Islands, we felt it was important to be able to provide 100% assurance and confidence that our honeys (and all of our products) are tested and guaranteed clean by certifications that you can trust. 

That's why we're so excited to announce that all of our products are now fully certified Glyphosate Residue Free and meet The Standard of Certification from The Detox Project. What does that mean exactly? This certification "verifies that your product does not contain the World's most used herbicide down to government-recognized limits of detection," and we are sure proud of this achievement. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Glyphosate "is a probable human carcinogen," and we want nothing to do with this nasty chemical in our products.

Speaking of nasty chemicals, each year we test of 292 (you read that right) pesticides to ensure purity in our honeys. We are proud to undergo this extensive testing to vet the quality of our products as we currently have the highest level of food safety certification in the world.

Of course all of our honeys are still guaranteed authentic according to the only global standard for Manuka Honey that was created by the New Zealand government (Ministry for Primary Industries or MPI for short) last year. We still hear lots of questions asking how someone can tell if it's a true Manuka. If this sounds like you, don't feel bad! Before Feb. 2018 there wasn't a single standard, so misinformation and confusion were extremely common. Since this time, all honeys labeled as Manuka and exported from New Zealand are now required to provide their test results to show they meet the MPI Manuka Honey standard for each batch that is shipped.

The easiest way to guarantee that you're purchasing fresh, real Manuka Honey is to look for these three things on the bottle:

1. "Packed in New Zealand"

2. The Fernmark Seal

3. "Raw"

We hope to encourage industry transparency through our devotion to these tests and lead by example to continuously provide genuine Manuka products that are untamed, vitalizing and utterly real.

We would love if you buzzed over to learn more facts about why The Detox Project and MPI are so important to us. To get all the bee-tails just click on website names above!