Hassona and Abd El-Wahed 2023 - Egyptian beeswax metals by comb age

Hassona and Abd El-Wahed measured nine metals in honey beeswax combs from Behaira governorate, Egypt. The paper is direct occurrence evidence for beeswax as a bee-derived material used in food manufacturing, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and beekeeping. Metal concentrations increased with comb age, with fifth-year combs showing the highest reported values for every measured element.

Key numbers

Table 1 reports mean +/- SD concentrations in ppm beeswax for combs aged one to five years.

The authors summarize the first-to-fifth-year ranges as Fe 2.068-5.041 ppm, Cr 1.008-2.728 ppm, Zn 0.364-2.480 ppm, Cu 0.651-2.573 ppm, Ni 0.890-2.547 ppm, Mn 0.222-1.204 ppm, Pb 0.040-0.185 ppm, Cd 0.024-0.054 ppm, and Co 0.027-0.054 ppm.

Methods (brief)

The study sampled honeybee wax frames from colonies in Egypt’s Behaira governorate across five comb-age groups. Wax pieces were stored frozen before analysis. Samples were digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, then analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The paper reports LODs for the measured metals and compares age groups statistically with LSD at p ⇐ 0.05.

Implications

Certification: This is not honey-as-food occurrence evidence, but it is routeable context for beeswax as a bee-derived food-contact, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and beekeeping material. It should not be pooled into honey product distributions.

Courses: The paper illustrates why recycled or aged beeswax combs can accumulate metals over time and why comb age is a relevant contamination variable.

App: Beeswax-containing products may need separate evidence from honey; this paper supports a beeswax matrix flag rather than a honey ingredient value.

Microbiome (if applicable): Not addressed.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• lead
• cadmium
• chromium
• nickel
• copper
• zinc

Verification notes

The PDF title, authors, DOI, journal, year, license, methods, and Table 1 values were read from the auto-fetched PDF. The source measures total chromium and total metal concentrations in beeswax; it does not provide chromium speciation, arsenic, mercury, or honey-as-food values. matrices: [beeswax] is a source-specific matrix flag for controlled-vocabulary review, not a honey-product routing claim.

Page history

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