Rainbow Colored Honey Anyone?
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The small town of Ribeauville that lies on a scenic wine route southwest of Strasbourg, France is known for two things - Its vineyards and 35,000 bee colonies that produce more than 1,000 metric tons of delicious amber honey each year. However, since August, while the honey has been as delicious as ever, it has lost its amber hue and instead taken on strange shades of blue, green and even red!
Mystified, the beekeepers embarked on an investigation to see what was causing the sudden change in color. While it took a few months, they believe the mystery has finally been solved. Turns out that just about 2.5 miles away from the hives lies a biogas station which processes waste from a Mars confectionery plant that manufactures - You guessed it - brightly colored M&M's!
The British Beekeepers Association believes that due to a harsh 2011-2012 winter, the bees had a hard time foraging for honey, leading them to look for alternate sources of sugar. That's probably when they discovered the colorful sweet liquid waste that the company stored in large bins outside the plant.
The biogas company has now changed their procedures so that any incoming waste is stored in covered rooms to which the bees have no access to. While that will definitely help going forward, the poor beekeepers are scratching their heads about what to do with all the colored M&M honey that nobody wants to purchase.
The news is not particularly good for the rest of us as well. With bee colonies disappearing all around the world, the golden liquid is quite precious to begin with - Losing more, just adds to the dire situation.
Resources: news.yahoo.com,dailymail.co.uk
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526 Comments
lorie34almost 10 yearsI never knew that m&m 's had honey in them -Lorie34- crayberryalmost 10 yearsi never expected that
littlesmartpantalmost 10 yearsI agree cheetahluver- handsomealmost 10 yearsscary
cutecupcake2048almost 10 yearsthats so nasty
cheetahluveralmost 10 yearsThats cool- but its not really gross, like its just like normal honey but the color came out with the honey from the bees- so like its not "ewwwww" or anything that bad.
peacheslaruealmost 10 yearsI tottally agree with u
analisealmost 10 yearsIts "ewwww" because the coloring is made of- CORNSTARTCH, LESS THAN 1%- , CORN SYRUP, DEXTRIN, Coloring (, INCLUDES , BLUE 1 LAKE, RED 40 LAKE, YELLOW 6, YELLOW 5, RED 40, BLUE 1, BLUE 2 LAKE, YELLOW 6 LAKE, YELLOW 5 LAKE, BLUE 2) , GUM ACACIA, and those can cause serious changes to your inside genes. That is how mutations are made.
spinnypeepsalmost 10 yearsI guess it's not that bad... they're just trying to survive, plus it's technically our fault that the colors are changing. But I would prefer natural golden honey, of course.
happypug12almost 10 yearsanalise, I think what you're trying to say is that if you eat too many M&Ms, your skin can change color. : O- cheetahluveralmost 10 yearsThats scary!!! :O
- analisealmost 10 yearsNo. It can cause brain damage
- happypug12almost 10 yearsBrain damage? Ahhh!!!!!!
- cheetahluveralmost 10 yearsSo since you think the honey is "ewwwww" so then you're saying that M&M's are really gross too?
swimmer_girl02almost 10 yearsNot regular grade a honey. Although personally I don't like m&ms (sorry, peacheslarue!) but gummy bears, which is just as bad so I'm trying to stop.
crystalmorialmost 10 yearsYou know, they have these natural gummy-bear shaped vitamins that you can buy. They're called 'yummy bears', and they're really, well, yummy. ^_^ I personally love them, and I think they taste way better than gummy bears. So it's just a thought, but I'm wondering if it might help you get over your gummy bear addiction.- peacheslaruealmost 10 yearsI hav something similar called GummiVites!
- happypug12almost 10 yearsHey, I have those, too, peaches! They are vitamins in the form and flavor of gummy bears. Yummy!
- peacheslaruealmost 10 yearsI know they are SO good!
- peacheslaruealmost 10 yearsits OK! Everyone has different tastes!
- peacheslaruealmost 10 yearsDont make me sad :( I luv M&Ms!
redflower1975almost 10 yearsthat honey looks really weird. i wouldn't try that try that
saddlebredalmost 10 yearsThis is really weird. They should have been a lot more careful with the waste.- swimmer_girl02almost 10 yearseeweweweww please I'm 4 grades ahead in this stuff don't trust this honey
- cheetahluveralmost 10 yearsWhat do you mean- its just honey thats colored from the bee's waste. What does "don't trust this honey" and "i'm four grades ahead of this" have to do with anything? Its interesting science, not gimmicks to try to trick anyone or anything.
- swimmer_girl02almost 10 yearsThis is the basics of genetics, which I am in an accelerated program cuz I want to be a genetic scientist. Don't trust rainbow colored honey because it carried components that can kill you. Any other regular grade A honey is fine, cheetahluver.
- happypug12almost 10 yearsAhhhhhh! I am so not going to eat that honey! I'm not even that crazy about regular honey.
- cheetahluveralmost 10 yearsOk, thanks for telling me. :)
animegirlyalmost 10 yearsOk i like normal honey but i can't trust rainbow honey