Overview
Grembecka and Szefer analysed 14 elements by flame AAS in 66 honeys and bee products bought in Poland, including natural, syrup-feed and artificial honeys, honeys with additives, bee pollen and propolis. Tables 4 and 5 give product-type means ± SD and ranges per 100 g wet weight. Lead and cadmium were not detected in any product.
Key numbers
- Bee pollen (N = 4 products, n = 12): lead and cadmium ND (LOD 0.01 and 0.003 mg/100 g); nickel 0.13 ± 0.14 mg/100 g (range 0.03 to 0.33); chromium 0.03 ± 0.01 mg/100 g (Table 5).
- Bee pollen zinc 2.90 ± 0.16 and iron 3.70 ± 0.30 mg/100 g (Table 5).
- Propolis (N = 2): chromium 0.67 ± 0.16 and iron 26.1 ± 32.2 mg/100 g; lead and cadmium ND (Table 5).
- All honeys: lead and cadmium ND (Table 5).
Methods (brief)
Triplicate 1 g subsamples were digested with nitric acid in a microwave system and read by flame AAS with deuterium background correction; phosphorus by the phosphomolybdate method. LODs (mg/100 g): cadmium 0.003, lead 0.01, nickel 0.02, cobalt 0.01, chromium 0.02. Tea and cabbage CRMs gave recoveries of 84.5 to 103%.
Evidence Fitness
Market survey with good QA, but flame AAS LODs are high (lead 100 µg/kg, cadmium 30 µg/kg wet weight), so the non-detects only bound lead and cadmium below those levels. Only four bee pollen products were tested, and samples date from 2004 to 2005. The methods text says nickel, cobalt and chromium were below LOD, which conflicts with the quantified values in Table 5, and acacia honey counts differ between tables.