Island Abbey Foods Ltd., a PEI based natural health product and specialty food producer, has announced that their Honibe® Honey Drop® is going up to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the official Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Snacks For Space competition which identifies Canadian snack solutions for use in space! The Honey Drop, only one of a select few chosen from over 150 submissions, will be going into space as a novel food innovation and will provide the International Space Station crew with an alternative to the liquid honey currently used during their missions.
The Honey Drop was rated on a scale from 1-10 by the CSA. The CSA has given the product a 7.2/9.0 score for organoleptic properties and an 8.0/9.0 score for suitability for space.
The Honey Drop is an individual serving (one teaspoon/5g) of 100% pure dried honey without any additives. It is ideal for sweetening tea or coffee or can be consumed as a natural energy source. It is noted as a healthier alternative to the sugar cube and is available in 20 or 12 count packages and in both pure honey and honey with lemon flavours. They are conveniently sized for easy transport in pockets, back packs, cars, briefcases, purses, and now – for space travel!
“After winning the top food prize on the planet in 2010, we are extremely excited about the Honibe® Honey Drop® tackling this next frontier… in space!” stated John Rowe, President of Island Abbey Foods Ltd. “We will be sending our Honibe® Honey Drop® up to the ISS this fall. Our Honey Drop® is a perfect alternative to liquid honey and the team will be able to enjoy this sweet and nutritious food without all the sticky mess. We believe the ISS team will think our Honey Drops® are truly out of this world!”
The Honibe® Honey Drop® has received major national and international recognition having been awarded the most prestigious food award in the world at SIAL Paris 2010, the Global SIAL d’Or (Gold Medal), which recognized the Honibe® Honey Drop® as “The Best New Food Product in the World”. Using the same proprietary technology as the award winning Honey Drop®, the Honibe® product line has since expanded to include Honey Delights® candies, Honey Sprinkles™ for cooking and baking, and Honey Lozenges™ for coughs and colds. Honibe® was subsequently honoured with the “Canada Brand Business Award” at SIAL (Toronto) in 2011. Honibe® was also recently featured on one of Canada’s most popular television shows, CBC’s Dragons’ Den, where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to savvy business investors. The Dragons smelled money in the honey pot as Honibe® was offered one of the largest deals in the shows history!