The Honey Industry

     A bee colony consists of worker bees, drones and a queen, living together in a large, well-organised family group. Bees make honey as a way of storing food to eat over the winter period when they are unable to forage and there are fewer flowers available from which to gather nectar. It is full of nutrients and energy as it is high in sugars.

    However, in the large-scale honey industry, most beekeepers aim for the highest honey yields with no consideration for simple morality, replacing the honey they remove with a cheap sugar substitute. This solution is significantly worse for the bees' health as it lacks the essential micro-nutrients and enzymes of honey. Because of this, the bees are more susceptible to disease, which might account for our current bee decline. Also, entire hives are often gassed with cyanide if beekeepers deem it too expensive to keep them alive over the winter period.

    Because of the beekeepers greed for the absolute maximum yield, the bees are often selectively bred. This limits gene pools, increasing the susceptibility to disease. These diseases are then spread to other pollinators the food chain relies on, which is incredibly dangerous for our future food supplies.

On top of this, a whopping 95% of the UK's honey is imported, primarily from China and Turkey. This in itself raises environmental problems as it increases our carbon footprint through the emissions associated with transport.

    However, unlike bees, humans don't need honey to survive. Instead there is a huge number of alternatives, for example, agave syrup, maple syrup, molasses, and malt extract.