How we ensure your Mānuka Honey is authentic and high quality

Our team works hard to harvest the best Manuka honey, from some of the most remote areas of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Every drop of Manuka honey is cared for under the principles of Kaitiakitanga (Guardianship) all the way from our hives to you; making sure the Manuka is as powerful and alive in the jar as it was in the hive, right back to our native forests. Kaitiakitanga is what we as Māori owners of Kai Ora have been doing for generations.

Ensuring your honey is of the highest quality we have every batch of our honey independently tested in an accredited laboratory for many parameters to ensure it meets all the New Zealand Export standards.

Of these tests, we present the important information to you on every pot using the MGO rating, so you know what kind of Manuka Honey you are getting. Methylglyoxal is the active ingredient in Manuka Honey and it is this compound which we measure so that you can be confident that you're buying a high-quality Manuka honey.  

Methylglyoxal (MGO) is measured in mg/kg of MGO. MGO is one of the key compounds naturally occurring in New Zealand Manuka Honey. It is found in levels of at least 50mg/kg in Manuka honey but in other honey is only found in levels of 0-5 mg/kg).

All of our Manuka honey has an MGO rating, with the higher rating meaning there is a higher amount of the active ingredient that gives Manuka Honey its unique health benefits.  

We guarantee all our Manuka Honey is New Zealand Manuka Honey.

The Grading system:

80+ MGO Manuka Honey contains more than 80 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 
200+ Manuka Honey contains more than 200 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 
400+ Manuka Honey contains more than 400 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 
510+ Manuka Honey contains more than 510 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 
700+ Manuka Honey contains more than 700 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 
825+ Manuka Honey contains more than 825 mg/kg of Methylglyoxal 

So how can you ensure that you have Genuine Manuka Honey?

• Genuine Manuka Honey will always have an MGO or UMF rating.
• Ensure that is honey made in New Zealand.
• A jar labelled Manuka without the UMF or MGO rating may indeed contain some Manuka honey, but it may be in very small quantities
• Get to know the producer of your honey.

Getting to know your honey producers is the best way to ensure that your Manuka Honey is genuine. Always choose ethical and sustainable beekeepers. 

Here at Kai Ora Honey, we are proud to be an authentic Māori owned business that were born and raised in Te Tai Tokerau, New Zealand. Kai Ora Headquarters is run from our family homestead located in Awanui, a small settlement in the winterless North.

We are New Zealand's premium Manuka extraction & development company, where we sustainably harvest and extract the medicinal properties from New Zealand’s mānuka and kānuka trees. 

We take pride in having a vertically integrated operation from our landowners, to beekeepers, to processors and marketers that enables quality control over the entire process of creating our products.

Try Our Best Sellers

200+ MGO Manuka Honey Kai Ora Black Label	400+ MGO Manuka Honey Kai Ora Black Label	510+ MGO Manuka Honey Kai Ora Black Label