‘Bee-Friendly’ Krispy Kreme Stand Swarming With Bees Grosses Out the Internet. But Beekeeper Say It’s Safe

One fine day, a swarm of honey bees in Guadalajara, Mexico, were foraging for some sugar. They followed the aroma of fondant cream and quietly slipped inside an open-air display case of Krispy Kreme, ogle-eyed at all the sugar. In a scene that would be enough to make a dessert-lover feel nauseous, footage was captured of these bees nibbling on the bakery’s donuts. When Parkway Esthetics Clinic (@parkwayesthetics), Las Vegas, shared the footage in a TikTok video, it attracted shocking gasps from over 23 million people who viewed it. However, a beekeeper insists that there is nothing “unsafe” about these bee-friendly pastries.

The 13-second footage showed a child standing before Krispy Kreme’s countertop display case, browsing donuts. From the glass of the case, the camera captured dozens and dozens of honey bees swarming in clusters over trays of classic ring donuts glazed with sugar, honey, and chocolate. On one side, the adult alongside the kid pointed to a sign that read “bee-friendly.” “Would you order one of these donuts?” the clinic asked the viewers in the video caption.

“I would have run out of there screaming,” said @babypicc82 in a comment. @whatahootowl quipped, “I don't like sharing like that.” Others were in disbelief wondering what if the bees pooped or laid their eggs in the donuts. What if a customer tore open a donut only to find a honeybee embedded into its bread, shivering its tiny wings and pecking at the sweet treat?

However, according to the Cheyenne beekeeper, Michael Jordan, it isn’t as bad as it seems. “As long as you didn’t get any bees in your mouth while you’re eating a donut, you should be safe,” he told Cowboy State Daily. Jordan explained that honey bees are aggressive only when they sense a direct threat to their hives. “You could reach in there and grab a donut, and the bees would just move out of the way. The only way you would get stung is if you accidentally pinched a bee between your finger and the donut,” he elaborated.

What about bees pooping or laying eggs in the sweets, as some TikTok users also pointed out? Well, it might sound corny, but Jordan revealed that honey is actually “bee vomit,” and so people consume bees’ droppings in their honey-glazed donuts already. Having bees swarm inside a particular donut tray won’t make much difference. In this case, the bees are displaying “swarm behavior,” but the people and bakery staff are completely safe from this. “Walking into a pastry shop and seeing a display case full of bees might give many folks a terrible start. However, Krispy Kreme staff and customers in the video are perfectly safe,” Jordan assured.

Moving on, the beekeeper revealed that bees are actually colorless. Like water, they take on the color of whatever they consume, and so does their honeycomb. If they feed on the pink icing of a cupcake, they will soon become pinkish and so will their comb. He recalled a similar incident about bees swarming on M&M candy, “There’s an old story of bees that were making green and purple honey. They were actually raiding an M&M candy factory, and were getting the colors off of the candy coating.”

Not that honey bees are inhospitable, rather they make up for 80 percent of food Americans eat. Bees are intelligent creatures and their beehives are one of the most wondrous and magical honey-making factories in the world. However, when it comes to baked goods supposed to be consumed by humans, bees are somewhat like unwanted guests. The only way to stop them from sneaking inside a dessert is to bring in a beekeeper, Jordan stressed. A beekeeper would be able to track the pathway of the bees and ensure that they don’t spoil the treats for humans.

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