Excuses aren’t what they used to be.  Take the excuse offered by Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream which announced this week that consumers may be in for a sizeable price increase for their next pint of ice cream.  The excuse: the drastically falling honeybee population in the U.S.  That’s right - your Butter Pecan fix is soon going to cost you a little extra because honeybees just aren’t putting-out the way that they used to. 

Haagen-Dazs, which is owned by Nestle, justifies the potential price increases by explaining that one-third of the U.S. food supply - including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even nuts - depends on pollination from bees.  The company claims that bees are actually responsible for 40% of its 60 flavors - such as strawberry, toasted pecan and banana split.

Scientists have confirmed that there is dwindling honeybee population in the U.S.,  however I find this whole thing very suspicious.  I mean, bees are notoriously hard-working (”busy as a bee”) and reliable.  They are the Toyotas of the insect world.  It’s hard to believe that they’re just abandoning their posts, en masse.  What does seem obvious is that Haagen-Dazs is trying to use this unexplained natural phenomenon to justify an unwarranted price increase. 

And, strategically speaking, how did Haagen-Dazs become so bee-dependent? If 40% of their flavors are tied to bee productivity, why wasn’t someone on their end preparing for this eventuality years ago?  With the onset of global warming and the rise of reality tv most certainly marking the end of days, one would assume that major corporations heavily invested in consistent bee productivity, would throw some research dollars towards alternative methods or ingredients.  Should their lack of foresight really justify a sacrifice on my part? 

Let me be clear here, I am not an ice cream junkie.  I enjoy ice cream as much as the next person, but chocolate is my drug of choice.  I do know that countless others rely on ice cream for it’s curative properties - PMS-driven cravings and boredom relief, for instance.  This makes Haagen-Dazs’ whole “blame it on the bees” position even more despicable, since their shameless attempts at price-gouging impact the most desperate consumers.   

One last point - if the world’s ice cream supplies are truly in jeopardy, why haven’t we heard from the Breyers or the Ben & Jerry’s folks?  As Dick would say in his most skeptical voice - “interesting…”.   As for me, I’m filing this one under “unbeelievable”.