Recently, an article was published with this title:
This American company, MeliBio announces to the world that they have invented a synthetic bio technology to replace honeybees for honey production, and the product launch is slated for late 2021.
Bee-less honey? You can offer vegans with an alternative sweetener, but please do NOT confuse people by calling the product honey if it does not involve the bees. Only bees can make honey. No bees, no honey. If the label "honey" must be used to entice consumers, you will need to first change the definition of honey given by all the English dictionaries in this world.
The article goes on to make the product's unique selling point:
This bee-less honey is NOT going to save the bees. The root of the problem of the Colony Collapse Disorder which has caused a serious decline in honeybee populations, is NOT honey production, but synthetic chemicals and pesticides that destroyed the bees' immunity to viruses, bacterial and fungal pathogens. MeliBio could perhaps think of how to help take down the real culprit, the bees' enemies, with their advanced technologies instead?
MeliBio seems to think that beekeepers and honey consumers are evil people who steal food from the bees. But, honeybees are part of our Nature's ecosystem to pollinate crops and produce honey. They are genetically coded to produce far more honey than they can eat, which is why beekeepers can take huge quantities of honey from healthy hives and still leave them with plenty to survive on.
Well, like many businesses which are producing "bee's honey without the bees" (such as "sugar-free honey", "honey sauce", one even blatantly calls it "imitation honey"), MeliBio may have succeeded in making a product that people will not be able to distinguish from bees' honey. But, I always believe this:
1. Are you really eating real honey? Watch out, labels and claims on honey jars can get really wild and crazy! More in: Eating Real Honey?
2. Trying to make sense out of food labels? How much is truth and how much is pure marketing tactics? Read: Did You Know Reading Food Label Can Be So Tricky?
3. The honeycomb theme has gone popular with foods such as chocolates, candy, cakes, and even sugar. Read: World of Honeycombs.
4. A book exposing the lies, deceptions and myths underneath the labels of honey: Honey Are You For Real?
5. Any thoughts from this comics strip? My Honey is Real.
End of "Bee-less Honey? Don't Kid Yourself!". Back to "Eating Real Honey?"