Comparative Overview of Microelements and Toxic Elements in Honey Regarding the International Criteria

Abstract

Honey is source of energy for bees and natural sweet substance with many benefits in human consumption. It is also used as a part of apitherapy, because it is rich in carbohydrates enzymes, trace elements, organic acids, dextrins, phytochemicals (flavonoids, phenolic acids, essential oils), vitamins and even prebiotics oligosaccharides. The stated use of honey demands high quality and safety of honey and honey products. Criteria for quality of honey is precise and regulated in Codex Alimentarius, where are defined honey, types of honey and parameters for quality of honey. For European Union (EU) members Council Directive 2001/110/EC is in effect, for United States of America (USA) it is United States Standards for Grades of Extracted Honey Effective date May 23, 1985, for China it is National Standards of the People's Republic of China, GB 14963-2011, National Food Safety Standard, for Serbia Rulebook on quality and other requirements for honey, other bee products, preparations based on honey and other bee products (Pravilnik o kvalitetu meda i drugih proizvoda pčela (,,Sl. glasnik RS'' 101/2015). Regarding microelements and toxic elements there are criteria for EU countries, similar to USA and China, defining criteria only for content of Pb in honey set to 1 mg/kg maximum residue level (MRL). National criteria for several microelements and toxic elements were present in our legislative, but over the time national criteria has been synchronized with EU criteria.