You’ve probably heard of clover honey, orange blossom honey, and wildflower honey. There’s also tupelo, buckwheat, eucalyptus, lavender, and mānuka honey, plus hundreds of other varieties. Each of these types of honey has a unique color, aroma, and flavor, largely depending on what flowers the bees use as their nectar source. But what about bees that feed on waste from a factory producing M&M candies?
That’s exactly what happened in the summer of 2012 in Ribeauville, in the Alsace region of northeastern France. Beekeepers discovered that their apiaries were producing honey in highly unconventional colors, such as blue and green. They also noticed the bees carrying colorful substances back to their hives, and it turned out that the insects had been visiting a biogas plant that processed waste from a Mars factory. The bees had been feasting on the sweet byproducts of M&M's production, namely the colorful candy coating.
While it’s normal for honey to vary significantly in color from whitish yellow to dark amber, these unnatural hues were bad news for the beekeepers. Sadly, this brightly colored honey was deemed unfit for human consumption due to the unknown (and unnatural) ingredients that the bees had consumed, including dyes. Although the treatment plant announced that they would work to ensure that all waste was securely sealed, the damage had already been done. It was a major blow to an industry that has already faced numerous threats to bee populations, including fungicide and pesticide use.
As for the bees, the fact that they had chosen M&M's waste over the local flora was an ominous sign, indicating not only habitat loss but also the destruction of their usual food sources. When bees don’t have enough flowers in the area, they seek alternative sugar sources.
Not such a sweet time for bees:
- A similar incident occurred in 2011 when beekeepers in Brooklyn discovered bright red honeycombs due to the bees feeding on maraschino cherry juice from a nearby factory.
- Besides being detrimental to the beekeeping industry, feeding on non-floral sources can sometimes be dangerous for bees, especially when they bring sweet yet toxic chemicals, like antifreeze, back to the hive.
- In recent years, French honey production has fluctuated dramatically, going from 10,000 tons in 2019 to 20,000 tons in 2020 to less than 9,000 tons in 2021. Even a relatively good year like 2020 stands in stark comparison to the country’s previous production figures; for example, French apiaries produced around 32,000 tons in 1995.
- The USDA recognizes seven colors of honey. From lightest to darkest: water white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber, amber, and dark amber.
