Determination of chemical elements in africanized Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) honey samples from the State of Piauí, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Sodré,Geni da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Marchini,Luís Carlos, Zucchi,Orgeda Luiza Araújo Domingues, Nascimento Filho,Virgilio Franco, Otsuk,Ivani Pozar, Moreti,Augusta Carolina de Camargo Carmello
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Química Nova (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422007000400030
• topic: honey; africanized honey bee; chemical elements

Honey is a food used since the most remote times, appreciated for its characteristic flavor, considerable nutritional value and medicinal properties; however, little information exists about the presence of chemical elements in it. The objectives of this work were to determine the chemical elements present in 38 honey samples, collected directly from beekeepers from the State of Piauí, Brazil and to verify whether they presented any contamination. The chemical elements were determined by means of Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence. The means of three replicates were: K (109.671 ± 17.487), Ca (14.471 ± 3.8797), Ti (0.112 ± 0.07), Cr (0.196 ± 0.11), Mn (0.493 ± 0.103), Fe (1.722 ± 0.446), Co (0.038), Ni (0.728 ± 0.706), Cu (0.179 ± 0.0471), Zn (0.967 ± 0.653), Se (not detected), Br (not detected), Rb (0.371 ± 0.097), Sr (0.145 ± 0.45), Ba (11.681), Hg (not detected), and Pb (0.863) µg g-1.