An Analytical Method for the Biomonitoring of Mercury in Bees and Beehive Products by Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry

Abstract

Bees and their products are useful bioindicators of anthropogenic activities and could overcome the deficiencies of air quality networks. Among the environmental contaminants, mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that can accumulate in living organisms. The first aim of this study was to develop a simple analytical method to determine Hg in small mass samples of bees and beehive products by cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The proposed method was optimized for about 0.02 g bee, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly, 0.05 g beeswax and honey, or 0.1 g honeydew with 0.5 mL HCl, 0.2 mL HNO3, and 0.1 mL H2O2 in a water bath (95 °C, 30 min); samples were made up to a final volume of 5 mL deionized water. The method limits sample manipulation and the reagent mixture volume used. Detection limits were lower than 3 µg kg−1 for a sample mass of 0.02 g, and recoveries and precision were within 20% of the expected value and less than 10%, respectively, for many matrices. The second aim of the present study was to evaluate the proposed method’s performances on real samples collected in six areas of the Lazio region in Italy.

Mercury in honey from the Marche region (central Italy). Risk assessment from human consumption and its use as bioindicator of environmental pollution

“…Although studies have already been carried out on the chemical characterization and accumulation of toxic substances in honey [ [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] ], few studies have been conducted on mercury content in Italian honey, which is the only country in the world that produces more than 30 varieties of honey [ 10 ], besides all of high physicochemical quality [ 26 , [29] , [30] , [31] ]. To the best of our knowledge, only three studies were carried out in Italy on Hg content in honey [ [32] , [33] , [34] ].…”

Mercury accumulation in honey bees trends upward with urbanization in the USA

“…THg concentrations in our samples are all below WHO standards (Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee, 2011). Compared with previous THg concentrations in bees and bee products, it is unlikely that beekeeping products from North American honey bees pose a risk of Hg to human health (Astolfi et al., 2021; Fischer et al., 2021).…”

“…(Zaric et al., 2018), which is comparable to temperate forest invertebrates at relatively low trophic levels in North America (Tsui et al., 2019). However, no study has reported MeHg in honey bees so far (Astolfi et al., 2021).…”

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages

“…It has been suggested that bees and their products could be useful bioindicators of anthropogenic activities and could overcome some of the deficiencies of air quality networks. To this end, researchers 129 have developed a suitable sample preparation method for the determination of Hg in bees and beehive products (pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, honey, honeydew) by CV-AFS. Results were obtained from small sample masses (20–100 mg) heated with a mixture of 0.5 mL HCl, 0.2 mL HNO 3 , and 0.1 mL H 2 O 2 in a water bath at 95 °C, which was made up to a final volume of 5.0 mL.…”