Glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) residues in Brazilian honey

ABSTRACT

Glyphosate (GLY) is the most widely used herbicide in the world and studies have shown that its exposure at sublethal doses has led to reduced sensitivity and decreased associative memory in bees. Thus, a high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detector with derivatisation reaction was used to determine residues of GLY and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in Brazilian honey. The method met the validation criteria of the European Union (EU) SANTE 11813/2017 guideline and showed a limit of quantitation of 0.04 µg g⁻¹ for both GLY and AMPA. Residues of these compounds were quantitated in honey samples from five Brazilian States. Six samples showed GLY levels above the EU maximum residue limit (0.05 µg g⁻¹) and one sample showed AMPA at 0.10 µg g⁻¹. This study indicates the presence of GLY residues in honey from regions that have had high losses of bee colonies and at the same time, frequent use of GLY in agriculture.

KEYWORDS:

• Pesticide residues
• glyphosate
• AMPA
• honey
• food safety
• food contamination

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Patricia Aparecida Campos Braga for her encouragement, assistance, and review of this paper, and Felix Reyes acknowledges the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for the research scholarship (CNPq process number 306141/2017-5).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry-CPQBA/UNICAMP (FUNCAMP grant number 104663-18) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher-Level Education Personnel (CAPES/PROEX financial code 001)