Pesticide contamination in apicultural products: An updated and comprehensive review of analytical methods, occurrence, and safety concerns
Özet
Honeybees and their products integrate landscape-level chemical exposure, making apicultural matrices valuable bioindicators for both food safety and environmental monitoring. This review summarizes current knowledge on pesticide residues in honey, pollen, beebread, beeswax, royal jelly, and propolis from 2019 to 2024, with an overview of analytical methodologies used in their determination. Multi-residue methods remain dominated by Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) extraction combined with liquid and gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, while high-resolution MS enables broader screening. Highly polar pesticides, particularly glyphosate and its metabolites, require specialised single-residue approaches, such as the Quick Polar Pesticides (QuPPe) method and ion chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (IC-HRMS). Co-occurrence patterns frequently involve mixtures of neonicotinoids, acaricides, and fungicides, reflecting combined agricultural and in-hive treatments. Regarding matrices, honey typically shows insecticide and acaricide residues, pollen concentrates fungicides and insecticides as the main exposure route, and beeswax acts as a long-term sink for lipophilic compounds; royal jelly generally exhibits the lowest contamination levels. Although exceedances of Maximum Residue Limits in honey remain uncommon in European monitoring programs, the presence of pesticide mixtures and limited residue data for bee-related products beyond honey raise concern. Future research should prioritize harmonized residue limits for all beekeeping matrices, standardized quality control and reporting practices, targeted mixture-toxicity assessment under realistic co-exposure scenarios, and the broader adoption of green, miniaturized, and matrix-tailored sample preparation strategies to enhance sensitivity, sustainability, and comparability across studies.
Anahtar kelimeler
Atıf için künye
Fuente-Ballesteros, A., Smerkol, M., Gradišek, A., Sarmento, A., Fourrier, J., Arapcheska, M., Hajrulai-Musliu, Z., Franeta, F., Milovac, Ž., Gvozdenac, S., İçli, N., Kurtagić, H., Pasho, I., Zioga, E., Vazquez, B. I., Pavliček, D., Busquets, R., Ciric, J., Esenbuğa, N., … Pugajeva, I. (2026). Pesticide contamination in apicultural products: An updated and comprehensive review of analytical methods, occurrence, and safety concerns. TRENDS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, 49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teac.2026.e00300
BibTeX
@article{fuenteballesteros2026-288108,
author = {Fuente-Ballesteros, Adrián and Smerkol, Maj and Gradišek, Anton and Sarmento, Artur and Fourrier, Julie and Arapcheska, Mila and Hajrulai-Musliu, Zehra and Franeta, Filip and Milovac, Željko and Gvozdenac, Sonja and İçli, Nesrin and Kurtagić, Harun and Pasho, Ina and Zioga, Elena and Vazquez, Beatriz I. and Pavliček, Damir and Busquets, Rosa and Ciric, Jelena and Esenbuğa, Nurinisa and Cavaco, Miriam and Rodrigues, Helena and Ferreira, Rosa and Leite, Marta and Lace, Zane and Ares, Ana M. and Bernal, José and Pugajeva, Iveta},
title = {Pesticide contamination in apicultural products: An updated and comprehensive review of analytical methods, occurrence, and safety concerns},
journal = {TRENDS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY},
year = {2026},
volume = {49},
issn = {2214-1588},
doi = {10.1016/j.teac.2026.e00300},
url = {https://akademik.atauni.edu.tr/yayinlar/288108-pesticide-contamination-in-apicultural-products-an-updated-and-comprehensive}
}