Application of QuEChERS with GC/MS/MS for monitoring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) contaminants in Turkish flora honey produced in urban and rural areas

ABSTRACT

Environmental pollution has been a problem waiting for solutions worldwide in recent years. Pollution with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs), oil, and petroleum derivatives, may have long- and short-term environmental and health effects. Bee products are used as bioindicators to determine environmental pollution. In this work, 16 PAHs compounds were analyzed in honey samples from different Turkey regions by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS). In this work, the modern extraction method (QuEChERS) was selective and sensitive enough to extract 16 PAHs from honey samples. High amounts of naphthalene (22.5 µg kg⁻¹), acenaphthylene (16.2 µg kg⁻¹), acenaphthene (17.3 µg kg⁻¹), fluorene (13.3 µg kg⁻¹), phenanthrene (14.5 µg kg⁻¹), fluoranthene (11.9 µg kg⁻¹), benzo(b)fluoranthene (12.6 µg kg⁻¹), benzo(k)fluoranthene (12.7 µg kg⁻¹), and benzo(a)pyrene (11.7 µg kg⁻¹) were detected. Besides, PAHs levels in the Marmara region were very high. The differences in PAHs content between honey from rural and urban areas could be related to atmospheric conditions such as exhaust gases, dust, and airborne particles or from soils in which the plants grow.

KEYWORDS:

• PAHs
• Turkey
• Bee products
• Pollution
• QuEChERS
• GC/MS/MS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

İsra Toptanci

İsra Toptanci received her Ph.D. and Master's degree in Food Engineering from the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey. She is a food engineering in Istanbul Food Control Laboratory, Istanbul, Turkey. In 2007, she worked in the residue laboratory with the staff of Food Engineer in Istanbul Food Control Laboratory. Between 2007 and 2015. She has been working as a head of Packaging and dioxin laboratory since 2015. she has already published 10 research articles in peer reviewed journals most of them are in SCOPUS. Her research area covers food toxicology, contaminants, food contact material.

Ali Bayrak

Ali Bayrak is professor in the Food Engineering Department at Gelişim University, Istanbul, Turkey. His responsibilities include to teach at undergraduate and graduate levels, to supervise M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses, to conduct research projects. He graduated in 1977 with food engineering degree and gained his Ph.D. degree in 1983. He held various positions at the Turkish Standards Institute, Abant Izzet Baysal University and Ankara University. His areas of expertise; Vegetable Oil Chemistry and Technology, Essential Oil Technology, Spice Science and Technology and Food Aromas. He carried out research projects related to different aspects of food science and engineering. To his credit, Prof. Bayrak has published over 109 articles and 2 books.

Mustafa Kiralan

Prof. Mustafa Kiralan received his Ph.D. and Master's degree in Food Engineering from the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey. He is a professor at Department of Food Engineering, Balikesir Universtiy. He has published more than 55 research articles in peer reviewed journals most of them are in SCOPUS. His research area covers natural food antioxidants, essential oils and food pollutants.

Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan

Prof. Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan is a Professor of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry at Umm Al-Qura University (Saudi Arabia). Prof. Ramadan obtained his Ph.D. (Dr.rer.nat.) in Food Chemistry from Berlin University of Technology (Germany, 2004). As post-doctoral researcher, Prof. Ramadan continued his research in ranked universities in different countries such University of Helsinki (Finland), Max-Rubner Institute (Germany), Berlin University of Technology (Germany), and University of Maryland (USA). In 2010, he was invited to be visiting Professor (100% research) at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. In 2012, he was invited to be visiting Professor (100% teaching) in School of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russian Federation. Prof. Ramadan published more than 300 peer reviewed papers and reviews in internationally recognized journals. He edited several books and reference work (recent h-index is 43). He was participated and invited speaker in several international conferences. His research was funded by several funding national and international agencies. He is an active member of several academic bodies and associations. Since 2003, Prof. Ramadan is a reviewer and editor in several highly-cited international journals.