METALS AND ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS IN LITHUANIAN HONEY
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Publication date: 2010-06-30
Pol. J. Food Nutr. Sci. 2010;60(2):159-163
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ABSTRACT
The quality and value of honey, as natural bio-product, depends on its sort and origin. The quantitative and qualitative relations of chemical elements are characteristic to each blossom of the plant from each region of the country, so general quantity of mineral materials depends on the location. The amounts of heavy metals (HM) – Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Sr, Rb, Ba, rare elements – Ce, La, U and organic chlorine compounds – DDT, its metabolites: DDD and DDE also α-HCH and γ-HCH and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) – were determined in samples of honey collected from different parts of Lithuania.
It was established, that the concentration of heavy metals in Lithuanian honey varied in a large range: Pb 3.20÷24.10 µg/kg, Cd 3.90÷16.50 µg/kg, Cu 110.60÷389.40 µg/kg, and Zn 564.30÷5008.20 µg/kg. The determined concentrations of microelements stay within the Maximum Tolerable Limit (MTL) of Lithuanian Standards of Hygiene. In turn, 2248.50 µg/kg of Rb was found in honey, which was collected in the forest of Labanoras. According to the Rb amounts in honey, it can be assorted into honey of mead and forest. The concentrations of heavy metals determined in Lithuanian honey are lower than in honey of some other EU Countries.
Polychlorinated biphenyls were not found in the examined samples of Lithuanian honey and only the prints of organochlorine compounds were observed.