Bee Free Honee

CORRECTION 6/27/17: An earlier version of this post reported that honeybee populations are not in danger. The post has been updated to reflect that honeybee experts disagree about the extent and gravity of the problem.

Spare a thought for the honeybee, says Bee Free Honee, an apple-based honey alternative and Shark Tank winner that’s taken the sting out of the sweetener.

“Honey Bees are dying at an alarming rate,” the company says on its website. “Inhumane Commercial harvesting of honey hurts and destroys bees and their colonies in the process. We are here to change that.”

A phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD) that ravaged honeybee colonies in the mid- to late-2000s — for which commercial beekeeping practices are one of the several proposed causes — provided the impetus for Bee Free Honee, the company’s founder, Katie Sanchez, told the Washington Post.

But experts disagree about the extent and gravity of the problem. The USDA says that a sustained rate of loss threatens the viability of beekeeping operations and the production of crops dependent on bees for pollination, as well as production of honey. It attributes the bee’s health challenges to parasites, diseases, poor nutrition, loss of forage habitat and environmental toxins.

But the agency also states in other documents that honey bee production and colonies are up from previous years. The EPA noted in a report on its website that while CCD was once thought to pose a major long term threat to bees, reported cases of have declined substantially over the last five years. It is only a small fraction of bees, yellow-faced bees native to Hawaii, that have been placed on the endangered species list in 2016.

TINA.org reached out to Bee Free Honee for comment. Check back for updates.

Find more of our coverage on buzzworthy honey products here.