OAKLAND, Calif. — Häagen-Dazs will celebrate its annual New Flavor Day on May 13, 2008, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ice cream lovers can sample for free the new Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream flavor, created in honor of honey bees, which are disappearing in large quantities. This year, Häagen-Dazs is helping to fund honey bee research at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Davis. Because the Häagen-Dazs brand uses all-natural ingredients to create its premium ice cream, bees are essential in the creation of more than 40 percent of its ice cream flavors. Honey bees pollinate more than 100 crops, $15 billion worth annually in the United States. Over the last several winters, more than 25 percent of the honey bee population in the United States has vanished and a recent report from the Apiary Inspectors of America shows the decline is continuing.
"The disappearance of the honey bees has the potential to pose a major threat to our entire food supply as well as many of our favorite Häagen-Dazs all-natural flavors, from Vanilla Swiss Almond to Strawberry," said Häagen-Dazs Shops brand manager Julie Michelutti. "New Flavor Day allows us an opportunity to raise awareness about the issue and educate consumers about what they can do to help, while giving them a chance to taste the flavor created in honor of these petite pollinators, Vanilla Honey Bee."
