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Dredging activities can lead to the resuspension of contaminated sediments, resulting in a potential hazard for the whole ecosystem and also for human health. A six-months active biomonitoring was performed in order to monitor the trends of different classes of both legacy (organochlorine -OCPs -and organophosphate (OPs) compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls -PCBs) and emerging (polybromodiphenyl ethers -PBDE -and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances -PFASs) organohalogen compounds, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in blue mussel (Mytilus edulis spp.) specimens transplanted at different depths in the Flekkefjord fjord. Such biomonitoring was performed to evaluate the efficacy of sediment restoration activities and to check for the potential environmental risk for the biota and food safety for human seafood. A negligible contamination by OCPs, OPs, PBDEs and PFASs was noted in mussels over the six-months biomonitoring, while a notable increase of the concentrations of PCBs and PAHs occurred in mussels transplanted at 15 m depth in three sampling sites within the fjord, as a consequence of an undersea landslide occurred during restoration activities. Levels of PCBs and PAHs suggested a potential risk for mussel predators and also for the human health, as they exceeded the limit set by European Commission for the consumption of bivalve mollusks. These results confirm the reliability of active biomonitoring to flank dredging activities aimed at ecosystem restoration in order to monitor the trend of contaminants and to estimate the potential risk for the aquatic communities and human health.

Demand for honey is increasing, especially if it is organic and if its nutritional properties are linked to untreated environments in order to guarantee quality for health. Sources of contamination of honey can be divided into environmental and apicultural. Therefore, the distribution of persistent organic pollutants, pesticides and antibiotic residues from geographical areas with different contamination sources (high anthropic impact, intensive farming, husbandry and low anthropic impact) was investigated in order to confirm the potential transfer of xenobiotics into the supply chain and to give beekeepers tools for the selection of areas dedicated to organic production. The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ether and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was confirmed, not only in proximity to highly urbanised centres, where the concentrations were higher, but in all environment contexts, confirming their ubiquity. No antibiotics or neonicotinoids were detected in 95 organic honeys, demonstrating the absence of apicultural treatments and consequently the good quality of honey of different areas. These results are important due to the undefined regulatory European situation on honey antibiotic limits.

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