Honey bees are the epitome of DIY all-natual wholesome food goodness. But don’t try to tell that to beekeepers in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn whose bees have been putting out a glowing red secretion, complete with Red Dye No. 40.

The beekeepers began noticing the bright red honey, which apparently has a metallic, overly sweet taste, earlier this summer. It’s believed that the bees are picking it up from a local maraschino cherry factory, where the buzzers are feasting on run-off from the HFCS-filled (and Red Dye No. 4 containing) syrup for the packed cherries.

“Bees will forage from any sweet liquid in their flight path for up to three miles,” a bee expert called in by the cherry factory folks tells the NY Times. He adds that keeping the bees at bay might be as simple as “putting up some screens, or providing a closer source of sweet nectar.”

Well, even if the red honey tastes bad, one beekeeper says it looks pretty rad: “When the sun is a bit down, they glow red in the evenings… They were slightly fluorescent. And it was beautiful.”

For pics of the cherry red honey, go to NYTimes.com.

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