Honey: Chemical composition, stability and authenticity.

Les sources de contamination des produits du rucher peuvent provenir soit de l'environnement, soit des pratiques apicoles (Fig. 1). La premiere partie de cette revue de synthese decrit les principaux contaminants d'origine environnementale : les metaux lourds, tels le cadmium, le plomb et le mercure, les isotopes radioactifs, les polluants organiques tels les biphenyles polycycliques, les pesticides (insecticides, fongicides, herbicides et bactericides), les bacteries pathogenes et le materiel genetiquement modifie. La contamination par le plomb et le cadmium, trouvee par divers auteurs, est resumee dans le tableau I. Le tableau II presente la contamination des abeilles, du pollen et du miel par les pesticides, d'apres l'article de Fleche et al. ( 1997). La pertinence des risques possibles de contamination est discutee pour chacun des contaminants, de meme que le role du miel et des autres produits du rucher comme marqueurs de l'environnement. De tous les contaminants issus de l'environnement, les pesticides sont les plus importants pour la contamination du miel et du pollen, tandis que le plomb compromet la qualite de la propolis. Dans la seconde partie on discute des divers contaminants issus des pratiques apicoles. Des acaricides de synthese lipophyles et persistants sont utilises dans de nombreux pays contre l'acarien Varroa destructor. Les acaricides les plus utilises sont presentes dans le tableau III avec leur limite maximale de residu. Ces substances polluent principalement la cire d'abeille, alors que le miel est relativement peu touche (Tab. IV). Des acaricides non toxiques tels que les acides organiques et les composes d'huiles essentielles (thymol par ex.) ne compromettent pas la qualite du miel. Les taux trouves dans le miel sont faibles et sans danger, mais ne compromettent pas la qualite du miel alors que ceux trouves dans la cire d'abeille sont bien plus eleves (Tab. V). Les antibiotiques utilises contre la loque americaine et la loque europeenne sont aujourd'hui une source importante de contamination du miel. Divers antibiotiques, appartenant a 7 classes differentes, sont actuellement detectes dans le miel (Tab. VI) : sulfonamides, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, amphenicols, macrolides, beta-lactams et les metabolites du nitrofurane. Actuellement on trouve principalement a l'echelle mondiale des tetracyclines, de la steptomycine, des sulfonamides et du chloramphenicol. L'apiculture fournit aussi d'autres contaminants : le para dichlorobenzene, utilise contre la fausse-teigne, des insecticides (par ex. le coumaphos) contre le Petit Coleoptere des ruches, des repulsifs utilises lors de la recolte du miel, des pesticides, pour proteger le bois, et des substances qui diffusent dans le miel a partir des futs. Les contaminants les plus importants pour les produits du rucher et qui proviennent des pratiques apicoles sont les antibiotiques pour le miel et les acaricides pour la cire et le pollen. Les niveaux de residus trouves dans les produits du rucher ne presentent en general pas de risques pour les consommateurs, mais alterent l'image des produits du rucher comme produits naturels et sains. La conclusion de la synthese est que les contaminants issus des pratiques apicoles sont actuellement plus importants pour la qualite des produits du rucher que ceux issus de l'environnement.

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Contaminants of bee products

Until 1985 discussions of pesticides and honey bee toxicity in the USA were focused on pesticides applied to crops and the unintentional exposure of foraging bees to them. The recent introduction of arthropod pests of honey bees, Acarapis woodi (1984), Varroa destructor (1987), and Aethina tumida (1997), to the USA have resulted in the intentional introduction of pesticides into beehives to suppress these pests. Both the unintentional and the intentional exposure of honey bees to pesticides have resulted in residues in hive products, especially beeswax. This review examines pesticides applied to crops, pesticides used in apiculture and pesticide residues in hive products. We discuss the role that pesticides and their residues in hive products may play in colony collapse disorder and other colony problems. Although no single pesticide has been shown to cause colony collapse disorder, the additive and synergistic effects of multiple pesticide exposures may contribute to declining honey bee health.

/pdf/pesticides-and-honey-bee-toxicity-usa-10g9ijg5gq.pdf

Pesticides and honey bee toxicity – USA

In view of the expanding global market, authentication and characterization of botanical and geographic origins of honey has become a more important task than ever. Many studies have been performed with the aim of evaluating the possibilities to characterize honey samples of various origins by using specific chemical marker compounds. These have been identified and quantified for numerous honey samples. This article is aimed at summarizing the studies carried out during the last 2 decades. An attempt is made to find useful chemical markers for unifloral honey, based on the analysis of the compositional data of honey volatile compounds, phenolic acids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, amino acids, and some other constituents. This review demonstrates that currently it is rather difficult to find reliable chemical markers for the discrimination of honey collected from different floral sources because the chemical composition of honey also depends on several other factors, such as geographic origin, collection season, mode of storage, bee species, and even interactions between chemical compounds and enzymes in the honey. Therefore, some publications from the reviewed period have reported different floral markers for honey of the same floral origin. In addition, the results of chemical analyses of honey constituents may also depend on sample preparation and analysis techniques. Consequently, a more reliable characterization of honey requires the determination of more than a single class of compounds, preferably in combination with modern data management of the results, for example, principal component analysis or cluster analysis.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00130.x

Floral Markers in Honey of Various Botanical and Geographic Origins: A Review.

Honey Bee Nutrition

Bioactive properties of honey with propolis.

Rapid determination of minority organic acids in honey by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Evolution of fructose and glucose in honey over one year: influence of induced granulation

Simultaneous determination of organic acids in beverages by capillary zone electrophoresis

For the 1st time, a relationship has been investigated between moisture percentage (M) and water activity (aW) in honeys from 2 different harvesting years and 2 different climatic areas. Moisture was determined by measuring refractive index at 20°C, according to official methods. At the same time, aW of the same samples was assessed at exactly 20°C. Influence on the relationship of the crop's year, aging, and induced fine granulation was evaluated. The results show that, independent of all factors studied, an excellent and statistically significant linear correlation between both parameters [aW = 0.3114 + (0.0170 × M)] was found in all samples with a regression coefficient of 0.8809. The measurement of aW of honey is interesting but time-consuming. This study concludes that this parameter can be easily calculated from the moisture percentage, thus avoiding the use of expensive and slow equipment for aW measurement.

M. T. Sancho

Papers

Bioactive properties of honey with propolis.

Rapid determination of minority organic acids in honey by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Evolution of fructose and glucose in honey over one year: influence of induced granulation

Simultaneous determination of organic acids in beverages by capillary zone electrophoresis

Correlation between Moisture and Water Activity of Honeys Harvested in Different Years