IT WAS the place to “bee” for the Archbishop of York.

Dr John Sentamu toured York’s National Bee Unit yesterday at The Central Science Laboratory, a purpose-built laboratory complex near Sand Hutton, with the Bishop of Selby, the Right Rev Martin Wallace.

The laboratory, which employs 700 staff, of whom 500 are scientists, is an organisation which provides research and information services to governments and industry around the world.

The Archbishop met staff and visited the Bee Unit and International Insect Collection. Part of his schedule also included reviewing research work on banana and cassava plants and dioxins and contaminants present in foods. Dr Sentamu said: “Food security and the complex issues surrounding it are important to us not only as a nation but globally. “We want to achieve a healthy and sustainable environment, with a safe food supply chain.

“We look to organisations such as CSL and their findings to help us to achieve these outcomes and resilience in times of crisis.”