Mission in a Minute

While they sometimes seem like nothing more than a pesky insect intruding on your outdoor activities, bees and other pollinators are vital to our ecosystem. In fact, one third of global food production depends on bees, and beekeeping is an important source of income for rural communities.

One of the most well-known bee products is honey. Honey production can get sticky, as it can be adulterated with other lower-price sugars, like cane, corn or beet sugar and then fraudulently sold as pure honey. Our Thermo Scientific EA IsoLink^TM IRMS System tests honey for the presence of other sugars to ensure the highest-quality honey is reaching consumers while our checkweighers verify that the packaged product consistently contains the specified amount as indicated on the label.

For some, bees can be a buzzkill. Some people are severely allergic to bees and other stinging insect venom, meaning a small sting could have life-threatening consequences. Up to 3% of the general population has a history of systemic anaphylactic reactions to insect stings, and people who have had an allergic reaction to an insect sting are likely to have a similar or worse reaction to a sting in the future.