APIS Volume 9, Number 3, March 1991
In this issue
- Food Insects Newsletter--Bees As Food
- Costs of Beekeeping Revisited
- Certification, Long-Range Planning vs New Zealand Model
- Bee Stings and Reactions
FOOD INSECTS NEWSLETTER--BEES AS FOOD
Those with interest in the subject rejoice that in spite of the editor's retirement, The Food Insects Newsletter will be published for a little while longer. The November, 1990, Vol. 3, No. 3 issue has two articles prominently featuring honey bees.
Dr. Michael Burgett at Oregon State University describes his experiences with bakuti, a Nepalese culinary preparation of giant honey bee brood. Because the giant honey bee doesn't exist in the U.S., Dr. Burgett has successfully used European honey bee brood. Bakuti, Dr. Burgett says, is based on the extraction of water soluble protein and liquid fats from whole larvae and pupae while still in the wax comb. Sections of comb are placed in a woven, fabric bag and hand squeezed over an open container that collects the liquid phase. This is then heated and gently stirred until it becomes the consistency of soft scrambled eggs. The odor and flavor of bakuti, Dr. Burgett describes as "nut like." To make it more acceptable to the U.S. palate, Dr. Burgett mixes an equal volume of Philadelphia brand cream cheese and serves the preparation on crackers. Overall acceptance rate is about 85 percent.
Eating honey bee brood is not confined to Nepal. It is carried on around the world. In fact, "honey hunters" in African and Asia, Dr. Burgett says, are really in search of bee brood, which is valued for its nutritional and organoleptic qualities.
In the same issue of the newsletter, Dr. Justin Schmidt, USDA ARS, Tucson, Arizona took on the task of tasting adult bees. These are rarely eaten, according to Dr. Schmidt, for two possible reasons: (1) the sting deters (too spicy) and (2) they simply taste bad. Dr. Schmidt then froze both adult workers and drones and tasted the various parts. Worker thoraces tasted fine, but were somewhat crunchy due to the wings, legs and other roughage. Heads, however, tasted like paint thinner. Abdomens were pungent and aromatic like curry spices, but with the added benefit of being slightly bitter and hydrolytic.
Although workers in general did not suit his palate, Dr. Schmidt described the taste of drones as "great." This is understandable, Dr. Schmidt says, because drones have no known or meaningful pheromones or chemical defenses. Worker heads, on the other hand, are loaded with 2-heptanone (alarm pheromone), which smells bad, while abdomens have a blend of esters found in alarm pheromone and venom. Thoraces have no pheromones and thus are universally tasty. Dr. Schmidt concludes: "My feeling is that workers are not eaten by many vertebrate predators, not only because they sting, but also because they taste so nasty."
Anecdotes or relevant research concerning bees or other insects as food should be sent to The Food Insects Newsletter, Department of Entomology, 545 Russel Labs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706. Because funding is limited, a $5 donation is requested for those reading the newsletter on a regular basis. Although lighthearted in approach, the newsletter seriously recommends insects as food for both humans and domestic animals. As a recent issue of the Whole Earth Review said: "Doesn't it make more sense, for example, to eat locusts (as generations of Africans and Native Americans have done) than to dump tons of pesticides on them? (And from all reports, they are quite tasty, similar to fried shrimp.) In fact pound for pound, insect pests are often more nutritious than the crops they eat!"
COSTS OF BEEKEEPING REVISITED
As I said in last year's September issue of this newsletter, that Dr. Roger Hoopingarner and I published an article in American Bee Journal, (Vol. 130 (6):405-407, June, 1990) called "The Costs of Beekeeping--I. Survey of Commercial Beekeepers." It was accompanied by a figure listing the average, minimum, maximum and totals of sixty-six different costs for commercial beekeeping operations (those managing over 400 colonies). The second in this series has just been printed, "The Costs of Beekeeping--II. Survey of Sideline Beekeepers," American Bee Journal, Vol. 131 (2): 114-115. The same costs as listed in the first article are compared with those from sideliners (less than 400 colonies).
CERTIFICATION, LONG-RANGE PLANNING VS NEW ZEALAND
Jim Bach, President of the Apiary Inspectors of America and Chief Bee Inspector in the state of Washington, said at the recent convention of the American Beekeeping Federation that the U.S. beekeeping industry suffers because it has no long-range plan. And not only does the industry have no plan, it also has no formal planning process. The result of this is a patchwork of regulatory efforts, Mr. Bach said, that are not coordinated. To help rectify this situation, Mr. Bach has published a draft document entitled: "A National Honey Bee Certification Program Proposal."
This ambitious document's purpose is to impose uniform inspection procedures and health standards while allowing states the right to deny entry to colonies, queen bees and their attendants or packages of bees having undesirable pests, diseases, or AHB (African honey bees). It will also allow each state to direct the movement and placement of colonies which meet their import criteria.
The document recommends:
- The American Beekeeping Federation and National Honey Producers promote a U.S. National Certification Program (NCP) in the 1991 congress.
- Congress provide a clear mandate to USDA to create a National Certification Program (NCP) for the beekeeping industry, primarily oriented toward movement regulations and provide funding for this effort.
- That the National Associations of State Departments of Agriculture's (NASDA) steering committee on beekeeping be declared the primary advisory committee in establishing the NCP.
The details of the above plan are not yet clear. A draft document has been distributed to industry leaders and a revised draft is expected to be published after March 1. A copy is available from Mr. Bach, 406 GA Bldg. Ku13, Olympia, WA 98504.
As a further guide to the planning process, industry leaders might look to the New Zealand Beekeepers Association's Industry plan, to be adopted by March, 1991. The mission statement is "Better Beekeeping, Better Marketing." Six goals have been established and under each, a number of objectives.
The first goal is to increase industry profitability. This includes establishing a honey stock stabilization scheme, ensuring awareness of standards for exported organic honey and formulating quality standards for the whole industry. The second goal is to improve beekeeper education and training, while a third is to improve industry co-operation and communication. Objectives under the latter goal are to establish an industry code of practice and evaluate the present condition of the New Zealand Beekeeper national magazine.
Another goal is to improve public relations by publishing an industry profile targeting agricultural groups and the general public. In addition, research policy is being improved by establishing an apicultural research fund and seeking to increase external funding for beekeeping research. Finally, there is the goal of ensuring adequate, cost-effective government services. A primary objective is to have in place an improved and industry-funded AFB inspection and control service by March 31, 1991.
The New Zealand plan is broader than the certification proposal authored by Mr. Bach. The U.S., though, has far more regulatory problems; the NCP proposes to regulate American and European foulbrood, tracheal mites, Varroa mites and the African honey bee. New Zealanders are only concerned about American foulbrood. Even so, widening the certification proposal to also include the other goals in the New Zealand plan would result in a comprehensive U.S. beekeeping long-range plan.
This is apparently already being considered by the NASDA Honey Bee Steering Committee, according to the Executive Director, Mr. J.B. Grant, who spoke on the subject at the American Beekeeping Federation convention in Mobile, AL. Soon to be released will be the document entitled: "Honey Bee Pests--a Threat to the Vitality of U.S. Agriculture." This is a blueprint for establishing a national honey bee strategy for the U.S. beekeeping industry.
BEE STINGS AND REACTIONS
Insect stings and reactions to them are complicated subjects. The biggest concern at the present time surrounds those persons who are severely allergic to insect venom. However, allergy to many things, from peanuts to penicillin, can be just as serious. There also continues to be disagreement among those in the medical community about what constitutes allergic, life-threatening reactions.
The subject of insect (honey bee) stings will also receive more press coverage as the African honey bee becomes established in the United States. Treatment for victims suffering stinging incidents involving this bee, however, will be more based on the venom's poisonous effects on the body. Most sensationalized deaths in Latin America resulting from large-scale stinging attacks have been caused by large doses of venom, resulting in toxic reactions, not lifethreatening, allergic reactions.
With the coming of the African bee, it will be important in the future for beekeepers to be more aware of bee stings and possible reactions to them. Dr. Scott Camazine at Cornell University has written an authoritative article on the subject (Hymenopteran Stings: Reactions, Mechanisms, and Medical Treatment, Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America, Spring, 1988, pp. 17-21) in which he tries to put into perspective the risks of death due to insect stings.
Most people, according to Dr. Camazine, have a great fear of venomous animals. However, he says, insect stings are a minor health problem. Approximately 40 deaths occur each year because of stinging insects, most in the Order Hymenoptera: ants, bees and wasps. Of these it is estimated that honey bees cause half. Allergic reactions to penicillin kill seven times as many persons and lightning strikes kill twice as many. In contrast, the nation's largest killers are cardiovascular disease (100 persons per hour) and automobile accidents (one person every 10 minutes). Ironically, Dr. Camazine says, one is at more risk of dying in an automobile accident on the way to the hospital to be treated, than dying of the sting itself.
The frequency of insect sting allergy, according to Dr. Camazine, is probably less than 1% of the population and only a small percentage of that develops severe reactions. Even with arrival of the African honey bee and associated stinging incidents, Dr. Camazine concludes there is no reason to suspect that bee stings will become a significant health hazard. That's the good news.
The bad news, however, Dr. Camazine says, is that the African bee may promote even more irrational fear of insects and stings than already exists. This can be responsible for anything from changes in lifestyles to debilitating behavior. Indeed, this fear itself may provoke systemic reactions. At least one physician believes that all systemic reactions are not necessarily life- threatening.
According to Dr. H.S. Rubenstein (, February, 1982, pp. 469-599), many persons who are stung experience frightening systemic reactions, but the majority of these are not life-threatening. Death from a bee sting comes about through a number of mechanisms, Dr. Rubenstein says, the most important of which appears to be atherosclerosis (build up of deposits on and hardening of arterial walls). External factors (environmental temperature, site of the sting) are also important. Disagreement about reactions, Dr. Rubenstein says, comes from four sources: (1) the frightening presentation of the systemic reaction; (2) misuse of the term "anaphylaxis;" (3) multiple causes of "beesting" deaths; and (4) lack of information about the systemic reaction.
The frightening aspect of being stung cannot be ruled out as a cause of a systemic reaction. As Dr. Rubenstein says: "A patient who suddenly develops hives, shortness of breath (sometimes with bronchospasm), and giddiness or syncope (sometimes with hypotension) is terrified, as are those about him. The patient may think he is going to die, as may his family or physician. What people need to know, therefore, is that the vast majority of patients, particularly if aged under 25, will quickly recover." In addition, according to Dr. Rubenstein, patients who have these terrifying experiences need to know that there is no evidence either that they came to the brink of death or that they are at greater risk of dying from a subsequent sting than anyone else.
It is this last statement that raises a few eyebrows; conventional wisdom in the past has accepted that reactions are likely to get infinitely worse with each sting after a person suffers a systemic reaction. It is lamentable, Dr. Rubenstein said, that in bee sting cases physicians did not check vital signs before administering adrenaline; even more lamentable is that patients who die as a result of stings generally have post mortem diagnoses of atherosclerosis, not anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is very rare in humans, he said, and except in specific cases in which it truly applies, should be replaced by the neutral, non-prognostic, non- frightening and non-specific term "systemic reaction."
Multiple causes of bee sting deaths are the rule, rather than simply anaphylaxis, according to Dr. Rubenstein. Other potential complications besides atherosclerosis include sepsis, cerebral oedema, defibrination syndrome, haemorrhages, emboli and neuroencephalomyelitis variants. The fact that 90% of those who die after a bee sting are over 25, whereas most who sustain allergic reactions are children, argues strongly against allergy. Only 12% of adults in one set of necropsy findings died of anaphylaxis, 20% had severe and 42% mild atherosclerosis and about one-third had pulmonary oedema.
Fright cannot be ruled out, Dr. Rubenstein said, nor can very warm environmental temperature. As he stated: "One may readily see how (1) a hot summer day, plus (2) strenuous exercise, plus (3) coronary atherosclerosis, plus (4) a bee may add up to death, whether or not one invokes an allergic mechanism..."
Dr. Claude Frazier, an allergist from North Carolina, takes exception to some of Dr. Rubenstein's remarks. He says people do die from insect stings and may do so within five minutes. There is usually insufficient time to get medical aid. If one is stung and has hives and wheezing, Dr. Frazier says, he could be in danger of death and should receive epinephrine immediately. He may also go into shock and have to be watched for several hours. People do not die from atherosclerosis, insists Dr. Frazier, they die from anaphylaxis.
Thus, the controversy continues. The times that I have asked what are the pros and cons about injecting epinephrine, I've been told that generally it's preferable to inject when in doubt. There are risks, however, according to Dr. Frazier, especially to those with severe hypertension, narrow-angle glaucoma, or coronary insufficiency. One should also be careful with those suffering diabetes or hyperthyroidism, pregnant women and the elderly.
However, according to Dr. Frazier, in order to legally be allowed to give an injection, one must first be certified by a physician. Training can only be conducted if state legislation has been adopted. Fortunately, Dr. Frazier says, fourteen states (including Florida) have passed this legislation. The training consists of two objectives: (1) recognition of the symptoms of systemic reactions to insect stings; and (2) the proper administration of a subcutaneous injection of epinephrine. This training should be provided to any person involved with people outdoors, such as school personnel and camp counselors.. Finally, an authoritative review on this subject was published by H.R.C. Riches, "Hypersensitivity to Bee Venom," Vol. 63, No. 1, Bee World, 1982.
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1991 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
