Relax, you’re in safe hands

Here at Nelson Honey we’re passionate about bringing you high quality natural bee products that are designed to make you feel good and look great. Quality Control is an integral part of our business, not because we need to comply with MPI as an exporter, but because we want to give you peace of mind you’re buying a quality product.

We keep our products as natural as possible because we want to pass all the natural goodness on to you. We add minimal if any preservatives or colouring to our beauty and health products. Our honeys are simply 100% honey, which means that you may experience differences in colour and taste among our products from time to time.

Honey and pollen in particular can have some distinct variations in colour from batch to batch. Temperature also has an effect on our honeys. If honey is stored in a cold place it will start to crystallise and harden. Place the honey jar in warm water and it will soften.

Our Royal Nectar range may have colour variations because of the different honey batches used. Storing it too cold (in the fridge!) or too warm (hot, humid climate, or in full sun) will affect consistency.

These variations have no effect on the quality and efficacy of the product. Rather it means you’re using a natural product to support your overall well-being.

While we do our utmost best to produce a quality product for you every time, we accept that sometimes things go wrong and you may find a product that doesn’t meet your expectations. In that case, please let us know so we can make it right. Please go to the contact page on our website and fill in the form. Don’t forget to include the batch number of the product you’re contacting us about and ideally include some photos.

If there is a product fault we will ask you to return the product at our cost and we will issue you with a replacement product when the faulty product is received. Please check out our Terms and Conditions for all details about product complaints and returns.

Beekeeping-and-honey-production-Nelson-Honey,-NZ

Nelson Honey production and Quality Control

Our Motupiko (honey production), Tapawera (honey extraction) and Hokitika (honey extraction) sites are all registered and fully comply with NZ Food Safety Authority standards. We have complete traceability from the hive to the honey jar in your kitchen pantry. Each and every batch of Manuka Honey is independently tested by 3 laboratories for Methylglyoxal (MG) levels, C4 Carbon Sugars, Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and Pollen Count. Please visit our Batch Track page to find out more and get a copy of the tests of your jar of Manuka Honey.

Royal Nectar production and Quality Control

Our Royal Nectar production process and Quality Control is more involved than our honeys because our skincare products have more ingredients. We use a combination of automation and physical checks to ensure your Royal Nectar product meets the highest quality standards;

At all times two people work together while producing Royal Nectar products and they sign off each other’s work. Each batch of product is accompanied by a ‘Batch Sheet’ where we keep track of all ingredients and follow the same steps every time.

As ingredients are batched individual ingredients are measured and checked. The Batch Sheet is signed off by both employees as they work their way through the formula and individual ingredients are added in the exact quantity and right order.

Each ingredient has a raw material code assigned to it when it arrives into our factory and this code is also entered on to the Batch Sheet for traceability.

When the cream batch is completed it passes another check and a batch code is then applied to each bowl of cream for traceability.

As the cream arrives in the filling room the product is checked again and samples taken. As the cream is being pumped into the jars and bottles production line staff keep a close eye on any product deficiencies and remove product that’s not 100% up to standard.

Line supervisors randomly check jars and bottles throughout the day. Our golden rule is ‘if in doubt, throw it out’. Even the merest hint of anything – product, jar, lid – not being up to standard means we remove the affected product from the production line and it gets destroyed.

Risk Management Programme & Exporter

Nelson Honey undertakes regular internal audits to fulfil compliance responsibilities with New Zealand Food Safety Authority regulations(Certifications and Quality Control). Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is our independent auditor and we have been registered as an operator of their Risk Management Programme since 2006. Our premises are export approved to the highest level, which means we are authorised to export to the European Union. Our code is NELSONAP2/01.

We are a registered exporter of animal products and our licence is renewed annually by NZFSA. Our official identification is NA1PC.
See here for our certificate.