Occurrence of environmental contaminants (pesticides, herbicides, PAHs) in Australian/Queensland Apis mellifera honey

ABSTRACT

Honey is a popular agricultural product containing mostly sugars and water, but due to its nutritious components and natural production by honeybees (Apis mellifera) from floral nectar, it is marketed as a premium health food item. As environmental monitors, honeybees can potentially transfer environmental contaminants to honey. Whilst pesticides can have ubiquitous presence in agricultural and urban areas, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be more prevalent in higher density urban/industrial environments. Australian beehives are customarily located in rural areas/forests, but it is increasingly popular to keep hives in urban areas. This study assessed the levels of environmental contaminants in honeys (n = 212) from Queensland/Australian sources including rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Honey samples were analysed by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS for 53 herbicides, 83 pesticides, 18 breakdown products (for certain pesticides/herbicides) and 33 PAHs and showed low/negligible pesticide, herbicide and PAHs contamination, consistent regardless of honey origins.

KEYWORDS:

• Apis mellifera
• honeybee
• Australia
• Queensland
• environmental contaminants
• PAHs
• herbicides
• fungicides
• insecticides

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Queensland Health under Grant RSS 18-002, for which they are gratefully acknowledged. The funder had no involvement in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the preparation of the article.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Queensland Health (Health Support Queensland) [RSS 18-002].