U.S. startup MeliBio recently unveiled honey made without the use of bees. The startup uses a process that replaces bees with its proprietary technology to produce honey that is identical to the real thing but without harming bees. The company replicates the multistep process that honey bees use to convert nectar (a sugary liquid produced by flowering plants) into food (digestion, regurgitation, enzyme activity and evaporation). MeliBio also successfully scaled their method for making honey without bees on a manufacturing level, showing the ability to serve multiple clients in their needs for non-animal honey ingredients. MeliBio is providing solutions to several sustainability and supply chain issues of the broken honey industry valued at US$9 billion in 2020. While honey is not a critical food source for humans, bees are crucial for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance. Recent studies show that the industry’s sole reliance on honeybees is making 20,000 wild and native bees crowded out from their habitats and vanishing at an accelerated rate. The global honey supply chain faces difficulties in keeping up with demand with recent honey harvests being heavily affected by climate change. Darko Mandich, CEO and co-founder of MeliBio, said: “The first version of our product is fully plant-based, inspired by light clover honey and it has a patent pending. We are also working on developing a proprietary synbio and precision fermentation technology that will empower us to reduce production costs and build a platform that will enable us to produce multiple varieties of honey.” (SD-Agencies) | 