Honolulu, HI – Governor Josh Green, M.D., has signed Act 242 into law, significantly strengthening labeling requirements for māmaki tea grown in Hawaiʻi. Effective today, July 1, 2025, the new legislation aims to protect local māmaki growers and ensure product authenticity by prohibiting the misleading use of certain words, Hawaiian imagery, place names, and motifs on product labels.
Under the new law, a consumer package containing tea or dried leaves from the māmaki plant (Pipturus albidus) can only use terms like “Māmaki,” “Hawaii,” or “Hawaiian,” or any variations thereof, if 100% of the tea or dried leaves were grown in Hawaiʻi. This means that for a product to be labeled as containing māmaki, all of the māmaki within that product must have been grown, dried, and processed solely within the state. While products may include other flavorings or mixes of other tea types, the māmaki component itself must originate from Hawaiʻi.
“Mahalo to Governor Green and our legislators, especially Representative Kirstin Kahaloa, who introduced the bill and was instrumental in getting this bill passed to protect the state’s māmaki growers,” said Sharon Hurd, chairperson of the Hawaiʻi Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity. She added that the department will be issuing further guidance to māmaki processors and manufacturers to ensure compliance with Act 242.
The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (DABS) Measurement Standards Branch (MSB) will be responsible for enforcing these new māmaki tea labeling regulations. The law also allows for the establishment and administration of a voluntary certification mark program to aid in compliance and has appropriated funds for a dedicated MSB inspector position to support its enforcement efforts.
For questions or concerns regarding this new law and the development of enforcement and documentation requirements, the public can contact the MSB at hdoa.ms.labeling@hawaii.gov.