The Bee Products Standards Council says it's making good progress in having new standards for manuka honey in place by October.
The council met in Nelson this week to decide how it will implement the standards, which have been designed to measure and accurately describe the unique antibacterial properties of manuka on honey products.
The chair of the council, Jim Edwards, says it is important that it gives the industry a clear signal about the timing of the standards because they have been a long time in the making.
The first inter-laboratory comparison has recently been completed, which Dr Edwards says showed good consistency when the samples were tested against the standard in laboratories in New Zealand and Europe.
Dr Edwards says the council will also make sure the standards are kept up to date with the latest research and technology.
