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ISSN 2063-5346
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ANALYSIS OF HEAVY METALS PROFILE FROM BEE HONEY: A POTENTIAL MARKER FOR TOXIC METAL CONTAMINATION IN ECOSYSTEM

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Vishakha Bhardwaj1* , Nimisha Tehri2 , Vikas Hooda3 , Arup Giri4
» doi: 10.48047/ecb/2023.12.si5a.0437

Abstract

An essential bee product with higher nutritional value is honey. Honey is also known to acquire trace metals that are both vital and poisonous. Furthermore, because bees collect nectar from practically all of the plants within a 100-kilometer radius, the quantity of hazardous metals in honey is a useful indication of toxic metal contamination in the ecosystem. Thus, in this study, the qualities of 40 honey samples with different origin standard physiological measures were used for the assessment. Like % moisture content, pH, specific gravity, refractive index, ˚Brix Index. Quantities measured included moisture content from 12.0% to 19.8 %; pH from 3.5 to 4.7; specific gravity from 1.35- 1.29 at 20℃; refractive index from 1.40-1.38 at 20℃; ˚Brix Index at 20℃ (Refractometer 0-90 range) from 84.66-76.53. The analysed samples demonstrated normal maturation, were free of unwanted fermentation, and agreed with standard values (Codex Alimentarius, 2000) and cited literature. After wet digestion, the amounts of trace heavy metals (Ag, Fe, Zn, and Ni) in Atomic absorption spectrometry readings were taken from honey samples. Honey samples were spiked with known concentrations of standard metals, and their recoveries were analysed to assess the method's precision. Honey samples were found to have minor metal concentrations between the of Ag~48.142 mgkg-1 , Fe~136.826 mgkg-1 , Zn~75.886 mgkg-1 and Ni~47.294 mgkg-1 . The results found are consistent with a report in the literature and with codex limitations, and hence do not constitute a health hazard.

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