ERIE, CO — Food and beverage manufacturers use many ingredients that honey bees pollinate, making the flying insects crucial workers in the production of some of the world’s most packaged foods.
“We have smiles on our faces and food in our stomachs thanks to the amazing honey bee,” said Catherine Barry, VP of marketing of the National Honey Board. “Everyone around the world can especially be thankful for honeybees on World Bee Day, given that more than one-third of our food supply is dependent upon honeybee pollination.”
In anticipation of World Bee Day on May 20, the National Honey Board is celebrating with five honeybee facts to educate consumers about the black-and-yellow creatures.
- The honey bee world is dominated by females, with a high likelihood that most will likely never see a male honey bee in their life.
- There’s only one queen bee per hive, and she will give birth to up to 1 million times throughout her lifetime.
- Honey bees have two stomachs — one for food digestion and one to store nectar from flowers — which they then convert to honey.
- Honey bees have a language called the waggle dance to communicate where good sources of forage are located.
- On average, a honey bee will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her life.
