Driven by the need for eco-conscious solutions, many plant-based alternatives have gained popularity among consumers.
What Do Bees Have to Do with Almond Milk?
Because theyre so vital to agriculture, these bees are actually classified as livestock.
Credit: Westend61/Getty Images
How Does Almond Milk Production Negatively Impact Bees?
This weakens bees, stunts growth, and has the potential to destroy entire colonies.
These toxic chemicals lead to illness and death in the pollinators.
Plant-Based Milks to Avoid
Not all plant-based milks have the same environmental footprint.
Almond milk, with its high demand for water and reliance on honey bees, ranks poorly.
The impacts vary grower by grower, brand by brand, and so on.
Like the rest of our food chain, some companies are more sustainable than others.
But being conscious of what wedoknow can help us make the right dairy aisle decisions.
Oat milk also requires very little water compared to almond or dairy milk.
A common concern with plant-based alternatives is that they don’t deliver nutrients provided by dairy milk.
Unsweetened almond milk is lower in calories and carbohydrates than dairy milk but contains less protein.
Oklahoma State University Extension.
“California’s almond trade is exploiting one of nature’s most essential workers.”
International Food Information Service.
“Which milk alternative should we be drinking?”
“Hemp Production and the 2018 Farm Bill.”
U.S. Food & Drug Administration.