FILENAME:  MARAPIS.91
 
 
                    Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter
           Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764)
                      Volume 9, Number 3, March 1991
 
                   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 stated in last year's September issue of this newsletter, 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).  My offer in September still stands.  Write me at
the address below and I'll be glad to send you reprints.
 
                     CERTIFICATION AND LONG RANGE PLANNING
 
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:
 
1.  The American Beekeeping Federation and National Honey Producers promote
a U.S. National Certification Program (NCP) in the 1991 congress.
 
2.  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.
 
3.  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. Ku-
13, 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 life-
threatening, 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 (The Lancet, 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 "bee-
sting" 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.
Nevertheless, he says the dosages necessary to abate a severe systemic
reaction to insect venom are small enough that they present little risk.  And,
Dr. Frazier concludes, there is no contraindication to epinephrine if a person
is suffering an anaphylactic reaction.
 
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.  Dr. Frazier has provided me with a sample bill.   Should anyone
be interested in seeing such a document, I can provide a copy on request.  I
also can make copies of Dr. Camazine's paper.  Finally, I can provide a copy
of Hint for the Hive No. 122, "Bee Stings and Reactions."  This  contains
valuable information provided by H.R.C. Riches, who published the article,
"Hypersensitivity to Bee Venom," Vol. 63, No. 1, Bee World, 1982.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Malcolm T. Sanford
0740 IFAS, Bldg 970
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0740
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143
FAX: 904-392-0190
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV
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