A New Zealand History of Toxic Honey

This is a history of the New Zealand poisonous honey problem. New Zealand was not the first country to report problems with poisonous honey. Poisonings have been known worldwide for more than 2,000 years and still occurs in some countries today. As well as descriptions of the poisoning incidents, the history includes a description of the efforts of beekeepers, beekeeping advisors, doctors, and scientists who took 80 years to identify the source of the poison, and regulators who attempted to eliminate the problem. Although this is a historical account, the threat of poisoning from toxic honey is still present today. The last reported poisonings occurred as recently as 2008 when 22 people were poisoned after consuming toxic honey from the Coromandel Peninsula. It is important for beekeepers to be aware of this history in order to prevent new poisoning incidents.