Imagine you are trying to collect some honey and finding it to be green, blue and the brightest of colors instead of the usual golden yellow. This was exactly the kind of solution French beekeepers found themselves stuck in!
The year was 2012, and beekeepers in northeastern France were in a dilemma. He harvested honey from his farm, but its color was blue and green! At first this was thought to be a possible health hazard and a number of explanations were attempted, including issues related to weather, flowers and soil. But after some time they came to know the real reason – an M&M factory a short distance away.
Do you know how to coat M&M chocolates with colored sugar? This sugar coating is basically a combination of products like sugar, starch and glucose syrup along with stabilizers like gum Arabic and glazing agents like carnauba wax. Additionally, food colors such as curcumin (E100), carotene (E160a), and beet red (E162) are added to bring out the shiny sugar coating on chocolate. Ultimately the light chocolate is surrounded by a layer of bright red, yellow, green, blue, brown and orange.
What happened?
Honeybees, honeybees, eat nectar (for energy, which they convert into honey) and pollen (for protein and other nutrients) from flowers. It was this search for nectar that led the bees to the Martian factory, and since the remains of the sugar syrup were very sweet, the bees made it their regular food. Due to this his body started making honey in different colors.
Green colored honeycomb coming out of bee hive. , Photo courtesy: Reuters
similar cases
Purple colored honey has also been found in North Carolina, America. The reason for this is not fully understood, but it is thought that changes in certain flowers, soil or even the color of certain berries may cause such changes (if the bees are feeding from them).
A reputed situation occurred in Brooklyn when honey turned red, causing a slight panic among the keepers as the source of the nectar was not known. But it was later discovered that it was Dale’s Maraschino Cherries – a cherry factory near the area where beekeepers discovered the red-colored honey in their hives. Some beekeepers also closed their farms because they felt that bees were not suitable for urban life, with the lack of natural nectar leading them to seek artificial sweeteners.
A sample of green honey. Photo courtesy: Reuters
color concerns
A major concern following this scenario was how much colored foods humans, especially children, are consuming through confectionaries, fruits and berries often coated with color, etc. People became more aware of the ingredients used in the products they frequently purchase.
It also raised major concerns about waste disposal systems at major confectionery factories that use colors and other preservatives. In most scenarios where bees found colored sugar liquids, it was because they were not completely disposed of properly and were often even left open. Factories also began to be more careful about their disposal systems. The impact of human activity on local ecosystems also became clear after news broke about unnaturally colored honey, highlighting how companies and factories need to create more eco-friendly ways to co-exist with nature.
