UK supermarket ‘non-vegan fruit’ scandal and the vegan bee debate

Fruit is, in most cases, a safe selection for any vegan… but a recent scandal has exposed the need for vegans to increase their vigilance when it comes to purchasing food. Tesco, which is the biggest UK supermarket chain, has been coating their citrus fruits with beeswax, and shellac (derived from female lac bugs). As a result, they have started to label these fruits as non-vegan friendly until they find an alternative.

Vegans can be divided when it comes to bees. In general, the exploitation of any animal is simply not vegan, but there is considerable controversy over what constitutes exploitation of bees. Whilst some think it is quite clear that extracting products, like honey, beeswax and pollen, directly from bees is obviously exploitative. Some argue that with such concerns, the use of commercial pollination could also be considered exploitative, rendering many fruits and vegetables, non-vegan.

Most crops are either dependent on or improved by bee-pollinating services. Whilst natural pollination occurs in agriculture, the managing and transportation of bee colonies is increasingly common and considered crucial to global food production. Animal-vector pollination is considered essential in crops that would face a 90% yield reduction in the absence of a pollinator, which includes popular fruits, such as kiwi, melon, pumpkins, watermelons, as well as cocoa beans and brazil nuts. Whilst the natural support of pollinators, in a sustainable system, could allow for such pollination services to be met, this is not the reality we live in.

Most of you will have heard the phrase “Save the bees”, a slogan with its own cause, but also associated with environmental groups like Bee the Cure and Greenpeace. What you should know is that we are seeing a global decline in pollinators because of harmful chemicals used in agriculture, electromagnetic radiation, disease, parasites, and human-induced habitat loss. Climate change is also posing a major threat to our pollinator friends, with weather extremes, such as droughts, reducing the availability of flowers for pollination. For this reason, more and more farmers will opt to use managed bee colonies to ensure effective pollination.

Beyond pollinating our crops, bees are crucial to sustaining natural ecosystems and their abundance should not be ignored. Whilst we may struggle to produce certain crops without managing colonies, we should consider the negative impacts this may have on wild pollinators. There are conflicting studies concerning the impacts of managed bees on wild populations, with most showing managed bees to negatively compete with wild bees, with a higher negative impact when managed bees were used outside of their native range. Most existing studies also show that managed bees may increase pathogen transmission in wild bee populations. However, the literature is lacking in studies on the impacts this has on wild bee fitness and abundance. There is also little investigation into the mechanisms of transmission, meaning such claims require further substantiation.

The overarching negative effect of high-density bee keeping on wild populations should not be ignored, despite fragmentary findings. Vegans should consider the reality that mass beekeeping, for whatever use, often results in bees being subjected to poor nutrition, exposure to agricultural chemicals, confined transportation across large-distances and over-extraction of desired by-products. Some local honey-makers practice low-intensity bee keeping, whereby honey is left for the bees, unwanted colonies are saved from termination, and the hives are not destroyed when their performance fluctuates.

Whilst the ethics of managing bees is in question, the importance of bee species is not. It is vital that we study and protect these crucial creatures and avoid unnecessary harm or exploitation. Most vegans get away with decidedly avoiding directly extracted by-products, as these by-products are naturally used by bees.

Commercial practices are engineered to extract as much of these resources as possible and low-performing colonies can expect termination. Beekeepers may also kill hives in the winter to avoid caring for them in non-productive months. If commercial bees are kept over the winter, their hard-earned honey is replaced by sugar water, which is decidedly less nutritious. Without an adequate diet, these bees are more vulnerable to pathogens.

When it comes to bees being harmed by beeswax extraction specifically, like the practices of honey manufacture, it depends on the method. Beeswax is produced by worker bees to build the walls of honeycombs. To extract beeswax ethically, bees must be relocated from the hive they have worked hard to build. The bees can be mishandled in this process, with the loss of body parts and some sacrifice expected. Additionally, the production of any bee by-product is rarely decoupled from another, meaning that most beekeepers will be extracting honey and beeswax, as well as other resources like royal jelly and pollen. Honey bees are also employed to pollinate commercial crops. Another vegan sore-spot is the clipping of queen bee wings to immobilise her and prevent swarming.

Soo… back to Tesco. Whilst some vegans may not be too fussed about a beeswax coating on their lemons, the debate on ethics is simply not simple. Regardless of your stance, it is unimpressive that the supermarket chain didn’t even consider the implications of using beeswax on fruit in the first place. You may be wondering, why do we need to make citrus fruit shiny in the first place? Well, the answer is we don’t need to, but it can prolong shelf-life, but is largely for appearance.

Oh, and if you want to help the bees, click on this link for some wonderful tips!

Article written by Aisling Geraghty- Australia