Green Options

There is new evidence that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be a culprit in what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), or the disappearance of honeybees.

Colony Collapse Disorder has killed off more than one-third of the bees in the United States.

Beekeepers know that when there isn’t nectar readily available to their hives, as in the winter months, some turn to supplements. Traditionally it was (guess what) honey. But that’s what you want to harvest, so many turn to cheaper substitutions. Cane or beet sugar, mixed with water, was seen as acceptable as long as you removed the part of the comb containing the sugar once bees started producing again. It was important to keep the bees fed so they’d keep brooding and ready to produce honey.

Except it hasn’t only been the occasional sugar-water substitution. We’ve substituted the substitute. People have also turned to high fructose corn syrup.

And once again, it seems our need for convenience and affordability has cost us: a new study shows that a contaminant from heat-exposed HFCS may be killing off the bees.

With all the bad news lately about salmonella-tainted peanut butter in processed food products, isn’t it high time we had a peanut butter story we could feel good about?

MaraNatha Nut Butters offers a wide variety of natural and organic nut butters which are super-yummy.  And they are not involved in the current PCA recall.

Every day, the news is just getting worse and worse.  More and more products, including natural and organic ones, are being recalled in the US and Canada.  Our faith in our entire food supply system is being tested.

But there is some good news.  Not all food manufacturers use peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America.  And while we certainly should not become complacent, there is also no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater… or, in this case, with the peanut butter.