The Active Manuka Honey Association (AHMA) of New Zealand is an industry association that was formed in the 1990s as a collaboration of NZ beekeepers dedicated to producing genuine Manuka Honey with antibacterial activity that could be measured using a test developed by Dr P Nolan from the Waikato University. This test produces the scoring system that has since been named the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) and is a registered trademark.
The UMF standard was established to identify and set apart the type of manuka honey which has the special health-giving benefits referred to in the research. This ensured consumers received a genuine product which was clearly labelled with its UMF activity whilst preventing less scrupulous distributors passing off untested honey.
The UMF score ranges from 0-30 with the medicinal range being from 10-30. 5-9 UMF tastes good but does not have the properties of healing referred to in the research and is not promoted as having any special medicinal properties (and I don't think it is labelled with a UMF rating either). There issome concern that Manuka honey with a UMF rating above 16 (usually 20, 25 or 30) may cause problems with allergies so may be a little TOO active.
As a consequence a range between 10-16 is recommended for medicinal use.
The only suggestion that I was able to find that ratings above 16+ were in any way manipulated by man came from a website promoting a particular brand Wed***** that is NOT one of the licensed NZ Manuka honey producers and does not have a UMF rating on its label.
I believe that grades 20-30 are rare anyway and like particularly good wine, occur when ideal combinations of sun, soil and rain prevail.
Some hospital grade Manuka Honey IS sterilized using gamma radiation in order to remove potentially harmful impurities but it would have this on the label. In this case, �manipulated� has been rendered safer than �natural�.
The official New Zealand AHMA website can be found at
http://www.umf.org.nz/Active-Manuka-Honey-Association.htmland the link to Dr Nolans research can be found on the Waikato University website at
http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/ Please note, the website has not been updated in some time so some information may be superceded.
