Our New Zealand Manuka Honey is Glyphosate Free

With growing concern over how the use of agricultural pesticides like glyphosate might affect the honey we consume, there’s heightened demand for glyphosate free honey.

With that in mind, this article is here to break it down for you so you know what to look out for, and how to make safe choices surrounding honey for you and those you love.

Read on to find out more about glyphosate.

Spoiler alert: we are certified as glyphosate free by The Detox Project. We also test EVERY batch of our manuka honey for glyphosate and it must have a Not Detected (ND) result to pass our standards before we export it to you.

What is glyphosate?

Glyphosate is a very common herbicide, particularly effective against perennial weeds.

It is widely used in agriculture, forestry, and residential gardens.

Is glyphosate in manuka honey?

Sometimes, yes. But not ours.

When it comes to honey bees foraging for nectar, they fly up to 5km from the hive to search for food sources.

This makes it very difficult for beekeepers to completely remove any agricultural pesticides from their honey - unless they put their hives in remote areas hidden away from conventional farming.

As a result, while we’d all love to have glyphosate free honey, certain countries have a threshold for what’s an acceptable trace amount to be found in honey.

However, these standards vary from country to country (you can use this search tool to find more information). This has recently caused an issue with Japan rejecting shipments that were up to New Zealand’s export standards.

In April 2021, for example, Japan detected glyphosate (0.02mg/kg) in manuka honey from three brands in random testing at the border.

“Honey manufacturers point to Japan’s low standard for glyphosate, at no more than 0.01 parts per million, considered the detectable level, compared with New Zealand’s regulation of 0.1ppm and the European Union standard of 0.05ppm.”

• Stuff.co.nz

Is glyphosate safe?

That depends who you ask.

The World Health Organization labelled it as a probable carcinogen in 2015.

But since it’s widespread in standard agricultural practices throughout the world, it’s difficult to avoid it completely.

New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been keeping an eye on things too.

Since 2014, MPI has tested glyphosate levels in fresh milk and cream, pea crops, wheat crops, and honey - and kept them below an acceptable level of 0.1mg/kg.

“As New Zealand's food safety regulator, our number one priority is the health and welfare of consumers.”

• Ministry for Primary Industries

Despite the hard line on manuka honey (0.01mg/kg), Japan tolerates much higher levels of glyphosate in other food groups - such as 30mg/kg for oat grain, 0.5mg/kg for some citrus fruits, and 0.2mg/kg for commonly eaten garlic, beans, and carrots. Glyphosate itself is “permitted for use in Japan”.

While different countries, and products have different acceptable levels, research from The Detox Project states that there are no safe levels of glyphosate.

A recent CDC study highlights how prevalent glyphosate is in the USA.

How can I avoid glyphosate?

The best way is to buy from brands which are verified as glyphosate free and can provide evidence of this by way of test results.

Glyphosate free means that no trace of glyphosate is detected, so the value is lower than 10 ppb (parts per billion) - the bottom limit of detection and the threshold for approval.

Certification is the best way to ensure you’re buying a product with no surprises.

We are verified glyphosate free by The Detox Project.

We’re proud to be certified as glyphosate free by The Detox Project.

They undertake ongoing sophisticated research and they’re committed to human health, pure products, transparent information for consumers, and a safer and healthier environment.

Our Glyphosate Residue Free logo means that:

• We passed product tests showing that we are free from glyphosate residue.
• Our honey is tested at least twice a year for the detox project to prove that we’re still glyphosate free, and our certificate is renewed every year.

It is important to note that we test EVERY batch of our manuka honey for glyphosate and it must have a Not Detected (ND) result to pass our standards before we export it to you.

We want to share both our certification and our certification provider with you because it’s our policy to be as open and transparent with our customers as possible.

Enjoy our glyphosate free honey!

Our raw manuka honey comes from manuka shrubs in remote areas of New Zealand. Keeping far away from agricultural practises means that the bees that produce our honey are in pure nature when they collect their nectar and nurture their hives.

Our certification simply proves what we already know: there’s no glyphosate in our honey.

But don’t just take our word for it. We encourage you to check our full credentials here and feel safe in the knowledge that from us, you’re getting the best.

Shop our full range of glyphosate free honey now.

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