Is honey vegan?

"Is honey vegan?"

No honey is not strict vegetarian/vegan suitable. However it has become something of an area, of debate among some who follow the vegan lifestyle. I'm now going to try to present, the different reasoning's behind the use, or non use of honey, as best possible. So if you're thinking about following a vegan lifestyle, they're some points to consider.

Those who argue that it should be acceptable, are doing so on the premise, that without the bees, many of the crops that are used by humans, for food, would be decreased dramatically. It's an argument, that has a strong point of validity to it. The one part of the argument for eating and/or using honey, is that also there's a symbiotic relationship, between the bees, and those who keep the hives. Those who keep the hives, protect the bees from predators, and that those bees will make more honey in a year, than they're going to be able to use. It's a valid point. They realize that a minimum of seventy percent, to as high as eighty five percent, of the food crops for humans, depends on bees, and their pollinating of those plants, to produce food.

Bees do have predators, and depending on what part of the world you live those predators will vary. For the North America, here are some of the predators, badgers, bears (which are actually after the bees and not the honey, contrary to the long standing, and popular myth), as bees represents a source of protein, but also includes the fox, the North American least shrew, opossum, raccoons, and skunks, to name some animals that eat the bees. That doesn't include insects or the other predator types. Beekeepers will also put out different types of medicines, to protect the colonies that they have from the various types of of diseases, but also from various types of parasites as well.

Now though I'm not a vegetarian of any type, and by extension a vegan, I see not only the valid points of their argument, I know why they're valid. Yes some bees in the collecting of the honey are killed accidentally. However there's three counter arguments against it too. But two of those aren't done as a widespread practice. However they're good counter arguments. The first one is that SOME, but not that many beekeepers, will kill off the hive. However the better beekeepers won't, and won't sell, or offer a new queen to those who are known for doing that. The other main issue, is that some take all of the honey, from the hive, and use sugar water, for the bees at the end of the season, to make honey to survive the winter on. Now while I eat meat, I personally find both practices to be wrong, and can NOT, nor will NOT condone, either of those two types of behavior.

The other argument, is that the queen will have her wings clipped. Again this isn't done on a widespread practice. But those who do it, are doing it to prevent that queen from absconding, or taking off, and taking the colony with them. Many beekeepers though will use what's known as a queen retainer, that prevents the queen from escaping. It however won't prevent the drone or male bee from entering the colony, to mate with the queen. The male, or the drone is slightly smaller in size.

But at the present, the overall stance by most vegans is that honey isn't suitable for vegans, and/or for those that follow a more strict form of vegetarianism, but don't want to be, or aren't interested in following the tenets, of what has been set as being a vegan. However honey is described as an animal product, or even a byproduct, as bees fall within the sphere of the animal kingdom. Finally some who follow most of the tenets of being vegan, but use honey, are either referred to by themselves, or by other vegans as being what's sometimes called beegan....Show more

No, honey isn't vegan.

You have some odd answers: it's not debatable, there's nothing to rethink, honey is DEFINITELY an animal product and vegans DEFINITELY do NOT consume animal products. The problem is, some people think they are vegan without even knowing what the word means!...Show more

Not commonly. If it comes from or is made by another creature (be it bird, fish, mammal, or bug) then typically someone following the vegan lifestyle doesn't consume it or support it. Though there are some proclaimed vegans who are said to be fine with the consumption of honey ( though by definition they'd be labelled as vegetarians)....Show more

Honey isn't vegan as it is a product of regurgitation by bees....Show more

I was going to give a long answer but W. hit most of the high points.
Just to be succinct: Hectically, traditionally, and typically vegans avoid honey.
However, it is a controversial topic and some vegans are re-thinking it.

Vegans who eat honey are now calling themselves Beegans. And for most of them its mostly trying to find a stand that is consistent top to bottom.

The thing is that everyone (including vegans) benefit from commercial bee keeping. Oh! And by the way, although honey bees are raised commercially, the majority of commercial bee keepers don't keep honey bees. They make a profit by renting their hives to farmers for the purpose of pollinating crops. Most of our crops are pollinated by commercial bees. Some honey bee keepers do this as well but most commercial bees are not honey bees.

The life of a commercial bee is much worse than the typical honey bee. They tend to travel a lot during the spring in the back of semi- trucks. Millions of them die on these cross country trips. Presently bees are in crisis. The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is not understood. Some evidence points to a biological factor. But a lot of scientists think it might be the pesticides sprayed on the crops they are pollinating.

There is no practical way for vegans to avoid food that has been pollinated by commercial bees. So the argument goes if we have to benefit from the expoitation of commercial bees why not go ahead and eat honey. At least the honey bees are for the most part well cared for.

Another argument is that, "heck, they are just insects"....Show more