When you dig into the juicy plums from the office fruit basket, you probably think about how great it is that the tasty treat contains antioxidants which help fight cell damage caused by free radicals in the body.

It’s fairly unlikely you think about the honeybees, which pollinated the plum tree, resulting in the growth of your office fruit treat.

However, a study has revealed that half of Britain’s honeybee population has died out over the last two decades, which is bad news for office fruit.

Fruit that has not been fertilised cannot grow properly, meaning wonky strawberries could be a common feature of office fruit deliveries unless something is done, according to the government report which has sparked the launch of a honeybee preservation project.

"More than 250 pollinator species are now declining and under threat, animals that pollinated our ancestors’ food are heading towards extinction and those that might pollinate our descendant’s food may not survive," said Matt Shardlow, chief executive of the insect charity Buglife.

The government is investing £10 million in the project to investigate, and hopefully solve, the mystery surrounding the honeybee population’s rapid decline.

If all goes well, there shouldn’t be any odd-shaped office fruit for you to eat at work!

Want an office fruit basket at work?

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 11:00 am and is filed under Fruit at work/ Employee benefits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.