Human activities produce contaminants, the amounts and toxicity of which often exceed the environment's homeostatic capacity to cleanse itself. Hence, the systematic analysis and monitoring of the environment is increasingly a matter of urgency. Honey bees, thanks to their morphological features, and also bee products are regarded as good indicators of environmental pollution by toxic substances, be these heavy metals, radioactive elements or persistent organic pollutants such as pesticides. The bees can carry back to the hive many contaminants deposited on utilitarian plants. The pesticides used in agriculture (especially in spring and summer when farming activities reach their peak) may not only be the cause of the large-scale mortality of bees, but can also get into bee products. The presence of xenobiotics in these products may impair their quality and properties, and put human health at risk.In this paper available literature data and information on the morphological features of the honey bee, the utilization of the honey bee and its products as indicators of environmental pollution, and a historical outline of some of the legislation relating to beekeeping have been critically compared and discussed.

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Increasing emissions of chemical compounds to the environment, especially of pesticides, is one of factors that may explain present honeybee colony losses. In this work, an analytical method employing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was optimized for the simultaneous screening of 19 pesticides which have not been yet determined in honeybee samples from northern Poland (Pomerania). The sample preparation, based on the QuEChERS method combining salting-out liquid-liquid extraction to acetonitrile and a dispersive-SPE clean-up, was adjusted to honeybee samples by adding a small amount of hexane to eliminate beeswax. The recovery of analytes ranged from 70% to 120% with relative standard deviation ≤20%. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.91-25 ng/g. A total of 19 samples of honeybees from suspected pesticide poisoning incidents were analyzed, in which 19 different pesticides were determined.

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Developed and validated analytical methods for the determination of a wide spectrum of pesticide residues in honey and honeybee samples after the modification of QuEChERS extraction in combination with gas chromatography–tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography–tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were discussed and compared. The developed methods were evaluated regarding the utilized equipment and reagents using Eco-Scale and compared in terms of extraction time, accuracy, precision, sensitivity and versatility, with similar procedures. The results proved that the QuEChERS protocol in combination with LC and GC techniques fulfills the requirements of green analytical chemistry, so it can be used as a tool in environmental monitoring. The recovery was 85–116% for honey and 85.5–103.5% for honeybee samples. The developed methods were successfully applied in monitoring real samples collected from three districts of Pomerania in Poland. Analysis of real samples revealed the presence of the following pesticides: bifenthrin, fenpyroximate, methidathione, spinosad, thiamethoxam, triazophos, metconazole and cypermethrin at levels higher than the MRLs established by the EU.