Bees needed for ice cream production

No I didn’t make it up. Apparently in order to produce ice cream you have to have a good healthy bee population. In the US, giant manufacturer Haagen-Dazs has warned that disappearing bee colonies may affect the ice cream supply. Apparently one-third of the U.S. food supply depends on pollination from bees and Haagen-Dazs said bees are responsible for a staggering 24 of its 60 flavours, including strawberry, toasted pecan and banana split. However, don’t panic if any of those are your favourites as Haagen-Dazs is donating $250,000 to two universities to fund research into the bee colony collapse disorder (CCD). Really, that is what they are calling it – there will be a lapel button or coloured ribbon to wear to show your solidarity with it next I am sure. They are also trying to raise consumer awareness of the problem by launching a new flavour called Vanilla Honey Bee, which I would have thought was a bit counterproductive, but they plan to use part of the sales from this flavour help the honeybees.

Altogether now, aaaah!