Scientists have developed a process to certify West Australian honey with medicinal and antimicrobial properties, which will rival New Zealand’s famous Manuka honey.
The new certification process, developed by industry and food testing laboratory ChemCentre and funded by a $500,000 State Government grant, will now be able to authenticate WA honey with medicinal properties.
Honey that comes from jarrah and marri trees, which are unique to WA, are known as monofloral honeys and have been found to have some of the highest antimicrobial activity in the world.
Certification paves way for new marketing
But the WA honey industry had been unable to market these properties effectively because until now, it had no official certification process for monofloral honey.
ChemCentre principal food scientist Ken Dods said the certification would be able to test for and confirm the presence of antimicrobial activity in honey.
Mr Dods said certified honey would then have greater marketing value in export markets like China and Japan, where medicinal honey was in high demand.
He said his research had shown that jarrah and marri monofloral honeys had higher levels of antimicrobial activity than the famous Manuka honey from New Zealand.
“This certification process will protect and grow the WA honey industry,” he said.
The certification process will be launched at official opening of Baldivis honey producer Stephen Davies’s $2.5 million honey processing facility.
Mr Davies said the investment by State Government and industry into an authenticity certificate demonstrates the significant demand for WA honey in international markets.