Several beekeepers in Utah have started reporting cases of a strange, gooey, red honey that has contaminated their bee-hives, The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food announced.
According to UDAF, the red color is most likely due to honeybees feeding on by-products of a local candy factory.
"The UDAF is currently gathering information to determine the safety of this 'honey,' but we have no reason to believe the product is unsafe," the agency said in a statement.
Local beekeepers have already lost of tens and thousands of dollars due to the red-honey. UDAF said that it will start an investigation about the source of this contamination.
Chris Spencer, owner of Orem-based 3 Bee Honey, told ksl.com that he began noticing the red-honey in July and has already dumped 30 to 40 pounds of honey due to the contamination. Even the Queen breeders of the hives had to be taken out for evaluation
"It's been contaminated," Spencer told ksl.com. "The dye's actually in the genetic material, which it shouldn't be."
Division of Regulatory Services of UDAF will be finding out if the red-honey is in violation of The Utah Honey Standard of Identity Act.
Honey inspectors have found cases of red honey in Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Washington counties around sites for open-feeding. The change in taste and color of the honey is attributed to candy and water that some beekeepers used to feed the bees. The taste of the red honey has been described as a mixture of "peppermint, coconut or cherry, according to ksl.com.
"Quite frankly, it doesn't taste very good if you're storing simple sugar in the hive," William Burnett, who is a Utah County Bee Inspector, told Fox 13 now.com. "You want the flavor of the flowers. You want the pollen. You want the things that make honey honey to be there."
The UDAF has advised people to not mix the red-honey with the regular honey and to report it to the UDAF State Apiarist Dave Basinger.