most expensive jar of honey

[drex]

Gave my ex a jar of honey this summer. She thought it would be a nice present to take to our daughter in new zealand on a recent trip. She was stopped going through nothing to declare in nz. £210 fine. She obviously knows nothing about bees and nz

 

[the beehive lodge]

will it be on Nothing to Declare Discovery realtime lol
i managed to bring some back from Australia i declared it in Manchester no one was there to take it from me so i used the phone on the desk when they answered they gave me the green light

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Gave my ex a jar of honey this summer. She thought it would be a nice present to take to our daughter in new zealand on a recent trip. She was stopped going through nothing to declare in nz. £210 fine. She obviously knows nothing about bees and nz

So it's a no-no bringing our nice clean honey into new Zealand - but they make a fortune selling their Manooka Sh!te in Britain.
Who are the mugs then?

 

[Into the lions den]

Tad unfair as NZ is one of the most free markets out there.

The have logical reasons other than simple commercial protectionism for having a ban on honey imports.

Main one is the absence of EFB from New Zealand, and that it can be brought in in honey.

There are other countries with bans in place for similar reasons. Not sure if it is still the case but when we sold products to that country we could not send honey into Chile, as chalkbrood was absent these and they wanted to keep it that way.

I share your opinion on the merits of Manuka as a delicacy.............fortunately for the NZ beekeepers neither you nor I are their target market.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Maybe we should also be a bit more picky on what we let in - my grandfather always blamed a lot of the bees' problems on imported honey (and he remembered IOW disease)

 

[Into the lions den]

Maybe we should also be a bit more picky on what we let in - my grandfather always blamed a lot of the bees' problems on imported honey (and he remembered IOW disease)

There is pretty well nothing that we do not have here already, at least insofar as honey borne problems go. The number of places which truly have something to protect around the world, other than simple economic protectionism, is very small.

EU duty on third country honey imports is a case in point. We are economically protected by that in this country, and also by the very restrictive list of acceptable provenences, plus our perfectly reasonable honey labelling laws. The Daily Mail type would have us as victims yet again, barred from foreign marlets and overrun with imports, while actually neither is strictly true. Imports are plentiful for sure but the process is pretty strict and there is significant duty added. We can sell almost anywhere we like, but are too expensive to get market penetration for what (sorry folks), other than single floral sources, is fairly normal honey of its type readily available from other provenances with similar flora. Estonian and Lithuanian OSR style honey with clover, lime, bean and dandelion minor sources on sale in bulk by the truckload TODAY at about 1.30 a pound. Polish, Slovak cheaper. French a bit dearer but still way under our rates............and as I am sure our French members will attest to, its lovely stuff, more or less indistinguishable from UK honey. None of the above, bar some Polish shenanigans several years ago during the chloramphenicol period, are suspected Chinese laundering channels.

 

[Amari]

Tad unfair as NZ is one of the most free markets out there.

The have logical reasons other than simple commercial protectionism for having a ban on honey imports.

Main one is the absence of EFB from New Zealand, and that it can be brought in in honey.

There are other countries with bans in place for similar reasons. Not sure if it is still the case but when we sold products to that country we could not send honey into Chile, as chalkbrood was absent these and they wanted to keep it that way.

I share your opinion on the merits of Manuka as a delicacy.............fortunately for the NZ beekeepers neither you nor I are their target market.

Also, am I right in thinking that NZ is Varroa-free?

 

[Chris B]

£1.30/lb (and less) was the bulk price here very recently, round about 10 or 11 years ago IIRC. Then things suddenly jumped with a Chinese honey ban (was it 2002?) and have crept higher ever since. It's a supply and demand market, but being a relatively thin market it doesn't take much to change things.

I was given 2 jars of Polish honey a week ago. The forest honeydew is fantastic - I'd love to be able to produce something like that. The buckwheat, well I think I'd have to blend it with rape or something if we ever had anything like it.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Also, am I right in thinking that NZ is Varroa-free?

They have varroa.

 

[Les]

Talking of New Zealand – I can’t for the life of me understand why we import their lamb to Britain when we have perfectly good lamb over here.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Talking of New Zealand – I can’t for the life of me understand why we import their lamb to Britain when we have perfectly good lamb over here.

It is how the global market works, we also export thousands and thousands of tonnes of lamb, and those places also have plenty of their own lamb.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There is pretty well nothing that we do not have here already, at least insofar as honey borne problems go.

It would be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. But in general it is a pity that we're not as strict as New Zealand and Australia when it comes to personal imports. I think a lot of it is due to staff shortage rather than us not having the legislation in place - front line staff now being diverted from enforcement work to checking passports to maintain this 100% check policy we now have in place.
I remember having to stop anyone coming in from EC and non EC countries carrying potted plants and checking they had the right phytosanitary certificates, otherwise they were seized - and seizing any potatoes brought over from Eire (we had a lot of pi.. travellers coming over on the Swansea Cork and West Wales ferries and they invariably had a hundredweight or two of spuds in their vans)

 

[Chris B]

Talking of New Zealand – I can’t for the life of me understand why we import their lamb to Britain when we have perfectly good lamb over here.

Is there a seasonal availability reason? NZ has opposite seasons to us.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is there a seasonal availability reason? NZ has opposite seasons to us.

Not sure - most seems frozen nowadays anyway but they can produce the stuff cheap and in factory quantities (the automated 'conveyor belt' type abbatoirs look terrifying)- plenty of land with excellent grazing means they get to table size quicker (albeit with a lot less flavour than our highlands lamb) and also again good marketing.
But I believe they've had problems too - a few years ago they couldn't meet their export commitments to the middle East and there was a plan to export live Welsh and Irish lamb by sea. SWMBO was working in animal welfare then and i helped her work out the logistics.
I think new Zealand lamb became popular here after the Second World war - a massive demand for meat as during the war the onus had been on arable production thus people have continued eating it

 

[mbc]

Is there a seasonal availability reason? NZ has opposite seasons to us.

With different tupping times and different breeds reaching optimum carcass weights at different ages, UK farmers can produce fresh lamb at any time of the year. New Zealand lamb is significantly cheaper as they are farmed far more extensively (as opposed to intensively). Good Welsh lamb hits it for six in terms of juiciness and tenderness though !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

With different tupping times and different breeds reaching optimum carcass weights at different ages, UK farmers can produce fresh lamb at any time of the year. New Zealand lamb is significantly cheaper as they are farmed far more extensively (as opposed to intensively). Good Welsh lamb hits it for six in terms of juiciness and tenderness though !

Eat welsh lamb glazed with Welsh honey I say

 

[Rob55]

NZ bio security is strict as anything, not surprised, unlucky for her she obviously didn't know she was doing anything wrong, you'd think they could show a bit of leniency to a genuine case..

 

[Hivemaker.]

The UK is a major sheep meat producer, the largest in the EU and third in terms of global trade behind only Australia and New Zealand.

Plenty produced in the west country as well.

 

[drfraz]

New Zealand are always going to seem strict after the UK & Europe. It's main industry is agriculture & is easily isolated.
There are plenty of warnings to declare ALL food, drink & plant or animal products being brought into the country, both on the flights in & in the arrival halls. This includes any camping equipment & things that might be covered in soil.
The customs guys are pretty good & as long as you declare it most things are allowed through. (why are you bringing in Marmite we have our own!)
When I lived there they had a programme 'Border patrol' and some of the stuff people tried on was amazing, such as bags of rotting fruit filled with beetles, good for headaches apparently.
Normally the customs officer would start by telling them all they had to do was declare it or they would be fined but people would still refuse for some reason and end up with a massive fine $150,000 (about five quid) and the stuff destroyed anyway.
Oz is much wierder as you get the same crossing state lines & have to empty the car out!

 

[Dishmop]

Talking of New Zealand – I can’t for the life of me understand why we import their lamb to Britain when we have perfectly good lamb over here.

and why do we import chicken meat to put in M&S products that they then say are UK products.