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The presence of antibiotics in raw milk and milk derivatives poses a threat to human health and can negatively affect the dairy industry. Therefore, the main object of this study was to investigate the transfer of oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC) and doxycycline (DC) from raw, experimental milk contaminated with tetracyclines (TCs) to different dairy products: cream, butter, buttermilk, sour milk, whey, curd and cheese. Additionally the effect of the skimming process on TCs concentrations was tested, as well as the influence of low-temperature long-time pasteurisation. The analyses of TCs in milk and dairy products were performed by an LC-MS/MS method. In order to determine TCs residues in dairy products, an analytical method was developed with the same extraction step for all matrices. TCs molecules were inhomogenously distributed between the milk derivative fractions. The highest concentrations were determined in curd and cheese in the ranges 320-482 µg/kg and 280-561 µg/kg, respectively. Low levels of TCs in butter and whey were observed (11.8-41.2 µg/kg). TCs were found in sour milk (66.0-111 µg/kg), cream (85.0-115 µg/kg) and buttermilk (196-221 µg/kg) at much higher levels than in butter and whey, but lower than in curd and cheese. During the skimming process, the highest yield of cream was obtained after the raw milk was held at 2-8°C for 24 h. The differences in concentrations of TCs between whole milk and skimmed milk, expressed as percentages of recovery, were below 19% (recoveries in excess of 81%). The highest content was observed in milk and cream skimmed at 2-8°C. The degradation percentages for TCs during the pasteurisation process (63°C for 30 min) were below 19%.

Bee pollination is economically and ecologically vital and recent declines in bee populations are therefore a concern. One possible cause of bee declines is pesticide use. Bumblebees exposed to imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, have been shown to be less efficient foragers and collect less pollen on foraging trips than unexposed bees. We investigated whether bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) chronically exposed to imidacloprid at field-realistic levels of 2.6 and 10 ppb showed learning deficits that could affect foraging. Bumblebees were tested for their ability to associate flower colour with reward value in a simulated foraging environment. Bumblebees completed 10 foraging trips in which they collected sucrose solution from artificial flowers that varied in sucrose concentration. The reward quality of each artificial flower was predicted by corolla colour. Unexposed bumblebees acquired a preference for feeding on the most rewarding flower colour on the second foraging trip, while bumblebees exposed at 2.6 and 10 ppb did not until their third and fifth trip, respectively. The delay in preference acquisition in exposed bumblebees may be due to reduced flower sampling and shorter foraging trips. These results show that bumblebees exposed to imidacloprid are slow to learn the reward value of flowers and this may explain previously observed foraging inefficiencies associated with pesticide exposure.

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