Bees from a dozen apiaries in eastern France have been producing honey in mysterious shades of blue and green – after feasting on M&M's at a nearby biogas plant processing waste from a chocolate factory, reports France 24.
Beekepers around the town of Ribeauvillé in the Alsace region, better known for its white wines, launched an investigation over worries that their honey was unsellable because of the strange colours being produced.
They discovered that instead of pollinating flowers in local fields, their bees had been tempted over to the biogas plant -- more than 4km away -- for sugary snacks.
The plant processes waste for confectionary giant Mars, which makes M&M's, bite-sized chocolates covered in bright blue, green, yellow, red and brown sugar-based shells.
Mars made no comment when contacted by reporters, although Agrivalor, which runs the biogas site, said it was trying to address the problem.
The plant’s managers said they had cleaned their containers and that in the future all incoming waste M&M's would be kept in a covered hall.
Read more of this report from France 24.