THE TRUE GOODNESS OF FULL INTEGRITY = WEDDERSPOON
AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT!
A few years back, Wedderspoon ® noticed non-organic Manuka honeys appearing on the market with higher activity numbers, supplying a demand based on misinformation and cleverly deceptive marketing strategies, believing that the abnormally high activity numbers indicated on the Manuka Honey would work like supplements or vitamins. Did you know that very little background is known about the abnormal, artificial higher activity levels?
Your body actually does not need higher activity levels since objective clinical trials held at an independent laboratory have shown that even a 12+ activity level is sufficient to boost the immune system, for example. Seven years ago, there were no Manuka honeys with artificially induced and dangerously high activity levels such as 20+, 25+ or 30+ in existence on the market at that time. Some of our competition even used to advertise on their own jars: For topical use ONLY when they referred to their higher activity levels. Indeed, it is quite a shame that some “profits above all” mandate-oriented corporations are just more than willing to unethically and knowingly, deceive the health-seeking consumer in order to increase their profits.
So what does “activity” mean? Activity is a naturally occurring chemical found in Manuka honey that is equivalent to an antiseptic solution. Our products are unpasteurized and therefore still contain a strong hydrogen peroxide activity. However, the term antiseptic relates to a substance that prevents “sepsis” by inhibiting the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms, which can cause infections.
At Wedderspoon Organic ®, we consciously care about ethical company values and the optimum health of our product consumers. In that regard, we are not willing to support artificially higher Manuka honey activity levels, as we simply do not manipulate our Manuka honey through the damaging extreme hot & cold temperature gradient processes in order to provide risky, possibly dangerous higher activity levels. Therefore, since we have done our part in providing full, honest disclosure in order to respect our intelligent consumers, it is your reciprocal task as an informed, proactive consumer to know your activity numbers and educate others on what is out there.
Our role as an industry leading organically certified Manuka Honey provider is to wisely not tamper with the wisdom of Mother Nature and to ensure that our honey activity levels do not exceed 16+ because this is what we gather naturally from the Manuka flower. Currently, Wedderspoon ® is the one and only true voice of organically certified Manuka honeys and organic Manuka honey products, sourced from the South Island of New Zealand. Our line has also been known for its high quality for the last 5 years in Canada.
ORGANIC MANUKA ACTIVE ™ vs. other brands
Therefore, we believe that our OMA ™ (Organic Manuka Active) designation provides for a higher standard designation, due to our ethical processing techniques. Our smooth, raw, unpasteurized honey carries the full benefits of live, intact bee enzymes along with being very rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nutrients. At Wedderspoon Organic ®, we are able to achieve these unrivaled results due to taking the utmost care in preparing the Manuka honey and ensuring that our Manuka honey constantly maintains the highest leading average pollen count in the industry.
As far as the quality of the Manuka honey is concerned, most non-organic Manuka honey suppliers would rather focus on creating alternative marketing slogans such as touting their products as being “100% Pure New Zealand” in order to sell their products. Furthermore, the adage “Pure Manuka honey” is directly false because as normally occurs in nature, any type of honey, including Manuka, would contain at least 10% of a different non-Manuka source of floral pollen. This is due to none of the agricultural crops in the fields being actively controlled for extraneous wild flower pollen sources, as the Manuka flower bushes are often located nearby.
AUTHENTIC MANUKA POLLEN COUNTS
On average, Manuka honey typically would have a pollen count of about 70%. However, some other sources of Manuka honey are sold to various countries around the world in commercially sized large drums and are then manipulated or mixed with other local floral honeys. The next step that has been seen elsewhere is to double pasteurize the honey, which destroys the live beneficial enzymes, vitamins and minerals, which is easily noticed through the AMF testing method, mostly supported in the European Union. Finally, this significantly altered honey is then sold on the shelf in a liquid form, as it is seen today in the United Kingdom. In stark contrast, our latest batches of Manuka honey contain an average pollen count of 90%, which is the highest level in the industry today. On average, Wedderspoon Organic ® has had its honey products tested for Manuka pollen count levels ranging between 85% and 95%, while the typical standard in the predominantly non-organic industry would be between 60% and 70%.
STRINGENT ORGANIC CERTIFICATION BODIES
Within the Manuka honey industry, manufacturers are generally aware that Manuka honey crystallizes within 24 hours of being extracted from the bee hives and the honey needs to be slowly heated in order to pour it into the jars. The double proofing verification under Organic Certification bodies such as Agri-Quality (NZ) and subsequently, by Ecocert Canada check to ensure that the organic Manuka honey does not reach a temperature exceeding 28 degrees Celsius or close to what we would have in our normal summers. This is an ideal temperature found to enable the pouring of the honey, while preserving its valuable raw and unpasteurized properties at the same time. The Organic Certification bodies also conduct the important checks for any traces of pesticides or chemical residues often found in non-organic honey, which is amazingly and disconcertingly, not checked for by the UMF ® Association! In addition, Organic Certification standards exceed those of Kosher standards because the latter permits for harmful chemicals or pesticides to be in the product.
Another important feature of our Organic Manuka honey is that we adhere to strict organic beekeeping standards, which enables the bees to thrive in an environmentally safe and sound manner. Bees are a very important and critical part of many ecosystems throughout the world due to their pollinating abilities. Wedderspoon Organic ® has access to an average of 1 MILLION acres of land with its environmentally friendly bee hives in New Zealand. Due to the accessed acreage being established in the most remote places of New Zealand, the nearest industrial area would be located at a distance of more than 100 kilometers from any of the bee hive sites. Our vast coverage simply cannot be challenged by conventional, non-organic beekeepers on the North Island of New Zealand, which is where most of the commercially, non-organic Manuka honey is coming from.
Furthermore, we do not permit our beekeepers to implement harvesting “short-cuts” used by many non-organic beekeeping corporations. Conventional non-organic beekeeping involves feeding the bees a liquid form of white refined sugar from Indonesia in the wintertime, so the beekeepers can take 100% of the honey from the beehives. We believe this practice depletes the immune systems of the bees and when 100% of the honey is removed every year, this stresses the whole colony and may potentially be responsible for the worldwide spread of Bee Colony Collapse Disorder or linked to the disappearance of bees (more research needs to be done in this field, obviously). Secondly, conventional non-organic beekeepers use toxic chemical strips in the beehives to rid them of harmful pests. Organic beekeepers ethically use organically approved methods to kill such pests, using either essential oils or other non-toxic solutions, which are usually three times more labour intensive, hence the higher cost for organically certified Manuka honey. If a substance or chemical is not good for the bees, how on earth can it be good for you or your loved ones?
Today, the Organic Manuka honeys produced by Wedderspoon Organic ® have been used safely by many happy customers around the world, who have benefited from the highest “all-around” quality in terms of texture and certifications. We believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right!
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