Bees ‘Producing Green And Blue Coloured Honey’: Riddle Solved (Courtesy José Reynaldo da Fonseca)
Bees Near Candy Plant Producing Coloured Honey
Beekeepers in the northeastern part of France have been mystified as to why their bee colonies have been producing honey in shades of blue and green, according to The Telegraph.
Now they have traced the source of the color to residue produced by an M&M plant located in biogas which processes waste from the production of the popular Mars “M & M” candy, small chocolate pieces coated in a rainbow of colorful shells.
Agrivalor, the company operating the biogas plant, said in a statement:
“We discovered the problem at the same time they did. We quickly put in place a procedure to stop it.”
Bees who have picked up this coloured residue and returned with it to their hives have been producing honey in shades of green and blue.
Around a dozen beekeepers were affected. The honey tasted right but Alain Frieh, of the apiculturists’ union, said: “For me, it’s not honey. It’s not sellable.”
Plant officials responded promptly to the beekeepers when notified of the problem, promising to store their colorful waste materials under lock and key so that the bees would not gain access.
Although pretty to look at, the unusual coloured honey is not able to be sold, causing a financial hardship for most of the bee farmers already facing an unexplained decline in the number of bees producing honey.
