We have already seen a number of attempts to move gastronomy to laboratories. However, it is not so much meat, which, thanks to plant substitutes is experiencing its biggest revolution yet. Alternatively, they arise seafood, palm oil or milk, always with an emphasis on authentic taste. Honey could soon be produced sustainably, which is what the California startup MeliBio is trying to do, among others, in order to protect bees that are in great danger.
It is said that without bees, one would not survive. It is they who contribute to the development of the environment, preserve biodiversity and take care of the pollination of crops that feed up to 90% of the world’s population. Their impact on the natural ecosystem is thus irreplaceable, but due to the excessive use of pesticides in agriculture, climate change and the growth of urbanization, they are losing their natural environment and are slowly dying out.
This negative trend is also perceived by Serbian businessman Darko Mandich, who, after moving to California, teamed up with molecular biologist Aaron Schaller, founded MeliBio and began thinking about how to protect bee colonies. And while reflecting on the above issues, they also found that the future of bees is threatened by excessive honey production, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the United States.
In 2018, about 1.9 million tons of honey were produced worldwide
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Because honey production is a commercial affair (with the exception of enthusiasts who like apiaries in their gardens), honey bees have become massively exploited, making them a threat to other, wild bee colonies. “There are about twenty thousand species of wild bees. And it is these species that are threatened by current honey production, which completely depends on commercial beekeeping, “ he says Mandich pro Fast Company.
To put it simply, the more honey honey bees have to produce, the more endangered other wild species have to fight for nutrient sources. Thus, the pressure is increasing proportionally, and if the threats of pesticides on crops or dying plants due to climate change are added to this, extinction is a very critical problem and the number of hives is decreasing every year.
MeliBio therefore shut itself down in its laboratories in Berkeley, California, and used synthetic biology to try to reproduce the compounds found in honey, including experimenting with various variations of flowers that pollinate bees. This helped the creators to find the right, authentic taste. “We want to remove domesticated bees from supply chains so that they do not endanger the wild ones,” adds Mandich.
Although MeliBio does not yet have a final product, as the development of laboratory honey is still in the early stages, the creators recently managed to produce a prototype that is to be very similar in taste, texture and stickiness to the “real” one. They also verified it on random tasters, who did not know the difference, thanks to which they managed to establish future cooperation with fourteen companies that would take the finished product and offer it as an ingredient.
![[Photo: MeliBio]](https://www.czechcrunch.cz/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/melibio.jpg)
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A prototype of honey that did not require bees
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Startup wants to get its first honey on the market at the beginning of next year, and with it it plans to target not only food companies, but also drugstore manufacturers who could mix it into shampoos or soaps. It also focuses on the investments it needs to develop its research and development team to ensure lower production costs.
However, MeliBio is not the only project with such a focus. Last year, students from Israel also took care of the success, receiving international awards with their laboratory honey and practically showing where the production of this sweet and sticky delicacy can move.
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