No abstract

The floral origin of honey could be successfully evaluated by its amino acids profile coupled with chemometric analysis.

Honey is a complex mixture of various substances, and its composition depends on both botanical and geographical origin, as well as anthropogenic factors. The accurate identification of honey origin guarantees the satisfaction of consumers' needs and has an impact on the honey market value. Physicochemical parameters, some of which are used in routine analysis of honey quality, could be useful for the assessment of its origin. In this review, special attention is paid to those studies that assessed the sugar and mineral composition of honey, whether they were investigated in terms of botanical or geographical origin, or for the characterization of honey type. The oligosaccharides present in honey and the electrical conductivity of honey correlate strongly with its botanical origin. Mineral content could be indicative for distinguishing honeys according to their botanical and geographical origins because it depends on both the soil composition and the floral type of melliferous plants. This review provides insight into the results obtained by various studies from approximately the last 10 years concerning the sugar profile and the mineral and trace element content of different types of honey. An attempt was made to statistically analyze the results regarding mineral and trace element content in order to identify indicators that could distinguish honey by origin.

To contribute to the development of urban beekeeping, we designed this study to obtain more information about the contamination of urban bee products with toxic metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and pesticides. The samples of honey (N=23), pollen (N=13), and floral nectar (N=6) were collected from the experimental stationary apiary of the Belgrade University Faculty of Agriculture located in centre of Zemun (a municipality of the Belgrade metropolitan area) in 2015 and 2016. Metals (Pb, Cd, As, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cr, and Hg) were determined with inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed with high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). Pesticides were analysed with gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The honey samples were generally within the European and Serbian regulatory limits. The levels of all the 123 analysed pesticides were below the limit of quantification (LOQ). Regarding PAH levels in honey, the highest content was found for naphthalene. The elevated levels of Hg and Cr and of PAHs in the pollen samples indicated air pollution. Pesticide residues in pollen, however, were below the LOQ. In nectar, metal levels were relatively similar to those in honey. Our results suggest that the investigated urban honey meets the regulatory requirements for metals, PAHs, and pesticides and is therefore safe for consumption.

The aim of this study was the investigation of water, sediments and fi sh tissues contamination with heavy metals. All samples were taken from the Danube River in Belgrade region, a location upstream from Batajnica. Concentrations of Cd, Hg and Pb in water samples were not detected, while concentrations of Zn, Fe, Cu and As were in the range of 0.004 -0.330 mg L -1. Iron was the most deposited metal in sediment samples in contrast to water samples where all investigated metals were detected. For the purpose of heavy metals determination in fresh fi sh tissue, fi fteen samples of three different fi sh species, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and wels catfi sh (Silurus glanis) were collected. Concentrations of Pb, Cd, As and Hg were determined in the digestive tract, liver and muscle by absorption spectroscopy. The highest concentration of Pb was in the digestive tract in all three fi sh species, ranging from 0.036 to 1.518 μg g -1 , while Cd was mostly deposited in the liver. Concentrations of As were in the range of 0.36 -0.73 μg g -1 in Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, 0.013 -0.18 μg g -1 in Cyprinus carpio and 0.003 -0.005 μg g -1 in Silurus glanis tissues, while the content of Hg was equal in all tested tissues of carp. Concentrations of all metals were found to be present in the fi sh samples at different levels, but these values are under the maximum residual levels prescribed by the European Union (EU) and the maximum allowed concentrations (MAC) for Serbia, so the fi sh meat is acceptable for the human consumption.

The main objective of this study was to assess the exposure associated with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) of the adult population in Serbia from consumption of milk and dairy products. This assessment was performed using concentration values of AFM1 in raw milk (385 samples) and dairy products (556 samples) based on the analyses conducted in the period between 2015 and 2018. In parallel, a dairy products consumption survey was completed during 2018 based on ‘one-day’ and ‘seven-day’ recall methods. In order to estimate the intake of AFM1 from the consumption of dairy products for both recall methods, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted. The study revealed that pasteurized milk and yogurt are dairy products mostly consumed by the Serbian adult population. Estimated daily intake of AFM1 was in the range of 62–74 × 10−3 ng/kg bw/day, depending on the recall methods and scenarios employed. Although the results show moderate exposure risks compared to similar studies worldwide, climatic conditions and weather extremes that have occurred recently may have negatively influenced the contamination of feed and, consequently, AFM1 contamination of milk. As a result, it is justifiable to promote continuous monitoring in feed and dairy supply chains in Serbia and provide an update of exposure assessment.

The present work aims to provide a contribution to the overall investigation of European unifloral honeys with regard to authentication according to botanical and geographical origins. The mineral content of 206 monofloral honey samples of five botanical origins from six different regions in Serbia was investigated by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Chemometric techniques were applied for the classification and differentiation of acacia, sunflower, and linden honey according to botanical origin, as well as acacia honey samples according to regional origin. The highest influence on the differentiation of acacia honey samples was the presence of siderophile and chalcophile elements, whereas sunflower and linden honeys were determined by the presence of lithophile elements, indicating their origin from soil. However, due to the different bioaccumulation properties of plants, the presence of elements is not necessarily directly correlated to their presence in soil, which is confirmed by the results of the authentication of geographical origin of acacia honey.

The aim of this study was to conduct a quantitative exposure assessment of fish-borne histamine, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in the Serbian adult population. The consumption survey of fish/fishery products was administered to 1 000 respondents during 2018. Determination of histamine content was performed on 974 fish; cadmium on 1 909, mercury on 1 911 and arsenic on 1 891 fish and seafood samples during five years (2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018). Monte Carlo analysis was used to estimate the intake of histamine/ heavy metals from consumption of fish. The mean estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of fish-borne histamine, cadmium, mercury and arsenic by the Serbian adult population were 0.0274 mg kg −1 bw/day, 0.0347 μg kg −1 bw/day, 0.2426 μg kg −1 bw/day and 0.5576 μg kg −1 bw/day, respectively. Due to consumption of fish/seafood, 0.04% of the Serbian population are exposed to histamine, 0.05% to cadmium, 15.42% to mercury and 1.24% to arsenic levels over their respective thresholds.