A recent discussion around the water cooler here at Betterbee concerned a company called bee-io™ that aims to produce what they call "bee-free honey."
To reduce the need for honey bee labor in order to meet the demands of the growing global honey market, they are extracting plant nectar, chemically modifying it a bit (presumably by adding enzymes and other biomolecules that are similar to the compounds that bees add to nectar during honey production?), and then evaporating excess water out of the liquid to turn it into their "bee-free honey" product.
Whether their process works or not (and we have no idea one way or the other about that), we have been debating whether their final product can really truly be called "honey" without the participation of honey bees.
What do you think? Share your opinion through this Google Forms survey: https://forms.gle/NMBNNQZXMW6va1br7.
We'll handpick a few of your comments and post them below.
Your responses:
"ANY encouragement of substituting bee-made products has the potential of making the public think we don't 'need' bees - and nothing could be further from the truth."
"To me, this falls under the umbrella of lab-made meat. Yes, in theory, it has the same components and is technically what it is labeled as. I am ok with that. However, I feel that the labeling has to be more specific. Don't just package it up as meat and expect people to be ok with that. There should be a disclaimer as to the origin of the meat in question. Same with the honey. As long as the label clearly states "BEE FREE" or "LAB MADE" or something similar, ok. If I produce honey for sale I am required to label it with what it is, where it was produced, and where it was bottled. I don't feel that a label that makes it clear that the honey in question is not made by bees is out of line."
"I'll buy fake their honey as long as they accept my fake money!"
"Honey is made by the bees, this would not be honey. Can you make maple syrup without maple trees? Yes, but it is called imitation maple syrup or maple syrup flavored."
"When a bee manipulates honey, they mix it with enzymes from glands in their head. 'Man-made honey' will not contain those ingredients and therefore cannot be called honey. Dehydrated nectar would be an appropriate description."
"For all intents and purposes, this is a lab-produced facsimile of honey, a fake product that bypasses natural processes and in all likelihood does not have the same nutritional and/or health benefits as the pure natural product. It undermines the real work of honey bees and beekeepers alike, both of whom already face innumerable challenges. It should never be called honey because it is not honey." - Bonnie Stanics
"Natural honey also contains medicinal properties that does not contain in this process. It would be very misleading to the consumers."
"Probably another Bill Gates investment since he wants us on fake meat as well. I assume the fake honey folks are going to pollinate all the wild blackberries in NC too?"
"You have at the grocery store: I can't believe it's not butter. So whatever they call it, it should be something like: I can’t believe it’s not honey. That way people know that it is not a true product of honey bees."
"We've seen something similar in the 'milk' arena. We now have almond milk, oat milk, etc. with claims and counterclaims about these products and how they are or are not good substitutes for cow's milk. I would not like to see a repeat in what can be called honey. Can FDA be persuaded to weigh in here?"
"As we all know, most of the products sold on our store shelves are billed as honey when they are in fact corn syrup, etc. To me, the label of 'honey' has lost a lot of its credibility already so it's not like calling this new product honey is a huge assault on the real deal. I'd prefer they just invent a new name for their product but I think it could be fine to use the word honey in the name. Of course, it needs to be labeled as 'man-made' or 'lab-made' just like we label ours 'raw' or 'unpasteurized.' I'm curious what it would cost on the shelf and whether it would drive the price of real honey up or down..."
"Time will tell... but for me it's honey from bees please. ;)"
"Simple-- Hell NO it is NOT honey. If you've ever lifted honey supers, uncapped the frames, extracted and lifted buckets of honey, do you want some crap from a 'lab' on the shelf pretending to be what you and your bees worked hard for." -Dick's Bee Yard Jasper, NY
"I think I want to taste it and see its nutritional label and its ingredient list before I have an opinion on what it can be called." --Granny Roberta with 5 honey bee colonies in CT
"Bee-free honey is not honey."
"Similar to Almond 'milk' The dairy association won a lawsuit over the use of the word 'milk.'"
"The basic premise that this lab process ‘helps bees and plants’ is a clever lie to sell their product. Shame on them. Where does the lab nectar come from? Answer: It comes from flowers that are cut to extract the nectar. What are flowers? Answer: Flowers are the future fruit/vegetables we eat. Flowers produce nectar to entice bees to visit. When the bees visit, they bring pollen from other flowers which fertilize the flower allowing fruit/vegetables to grow. What happens if you cut flowers to extract nectar? Answer: No nectar for bees to eat. No fruit/vegetables for humans to eat. But, plenty of fake lab honey to eat!! Great, right?"
"It's actually a very ambitious goal to create "honey" without bees. Bee-io is providing a solution to a problem that is real and understood by the general public. That said, I think the word "honey" should be reserved for a product produced by living bees. Anything other than that should be kicked over the a marketing department for a different name."
"Don’t fool with Mother Nature! Period."
