Overview
Belina-Aldemita and colleagues measured 12 inorganic contaminants by ICP-MS, plus microbial counts, in eight pot-pollen samples produced by the stingless bee Tetragonula biroi in the Philippines. Table 1 prints a value for each sample and element. Arsenic, cadmium and lead were low, and only one sample exceeded the cited bee pollen guideline for cadmium.
Key numbers
- Lead 0.017 ± 0.003 to 0.155 ± 0.004 mg/kg across samples 1 to 8 (Table 1).
- Cadmium 0.053 ± 0.006 to 0.153 ± 0.018 mg/kg; sample 3 at 0.153 mg/kg is above the cited 0.1 mg/kg pollen guideline (Table 1, Section 3.1).
- Arsenic 0.015 ± 0.006 to 0.032 ± 0.007 mg/kg (Table 1).
- Aluminum 9.5 ± 0.4 to 132.8 ± 12.5 mg/kg, highest in sample 8 from an urbanized area (Table 1).
Methods (brief)
Samples of 0.5 g were digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide in a microwave system and measured in duplicate by quadrupole ICP-MS with indium internal normalization. Values are means ± standard uncertainty uranium (U) (k = 2). No detection limits, certified reference material or recoveries are reported.
Evidence Fitness
Eight samples from one country, one value per sample, with no reported LOD or CRM check. The moisture basis is not stated. Stingless bee pot-pollen is stored, fermented pollen from cerumen pots, not honey bee pollen loads, so it is a proxy for bee-pollen and does not represent commercial honey bee pollen.