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The present work describes a method for the determination of methyl anthranilate (MA) in honey, and reports the results of a study carried out on 46 Citrus honey samples produced in different countries. The MA content was measured, and the compliance of the samples with the unifloral Citrus honey profile was verified, according to the traditional authenticity parameters (physicochemical, sensory and microscopic). The analytical results show that MA values do not significantly differ in unifloral and not unifloral samples. More generally, no relationship could be found between MA content and the level of uniflorality or any single authenticity parameter. The conclusion is that MA content can not be used as a discriminating parameter for Citrus honey, and should be used only as a further descriptive element. Among the unifloral samples the MA content was lower in those produced in Italy than in the other countries, and mostly below the 2 mg/kg limit that some European laboratories require to accept Citrus honey.

A correlation was found between the measured refraction index of royal jelly and its water content as determined by vacuum oven drying. Twenty-seven different royal jelly samples were analysed for their water content by performing 24 hour vacuum drying at 48 °C, obtaining values that covered almost the entire range reported in literature. The refraction index values for the same samples were measured using a thermostated Abbe refractometer. A simple linear relationship (R2 = 0.96) between refraction index and water content was found proving the fitness of a refractometric measure for quality control purposes. The relationship provides estimates of water content that are similar to those resulting from the Wedmore equation (R2 = 0.9999) used to estimate water content in honey. The refractometric evaluation of the water content provides sufficient reliability for the routine quality control of royal jelly and is faster and simpler than currently used methods.

The aim of this work was to study the distribution of imidacloprid in soil and its translocation to roots and aerial parts of maize plant. The main objective was to assess imidacloprid residues in field environment, in order to provide data on honeybees exposure level to such an active substance. Imidacloprid has been detected and quantified by Triple Quadrupole HPLC-MS-MS. Pesticide persistence in the soil and its residues in pollen and in maize plants have been evaluated during the growing of maize plants developed from seeds dressed with Gaucho 350 FS (imidacloprid: 1.0 mg/seed). The sowing has been performed by means of a pneumatic precision drill. Samples have been collected at 30, 45, 60, 80, 130 days after the sowing, as pollen samples have been collected at the tasseling. Imidacloprid presence in aerial part of maize plant declined to 2-3 μg/kg 80 days after the sowing, while concentration in kernel at harvest was1 μg/kg. Maize pollen represents an important part of protein supply of beehives, and it is of critical importance to bee foraging. The values detected (imidacloprid residues1 μg/kg) showed that maize pollen source should not be relevant for acute toxicity impact on honey bees.

Stingless bees (Tribe Meliponini) are a diverse group of highly eusocial bees distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. Trigona carbonaria honey, from Australia, was characterized by traditional physicochemical parameters (acidity, sugars, diastase, electrical conductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural, invertase, nitrogen, and water content) and other compositional factors (flavonoids, polyphenols, organic acids, and water activity), as well as total antioxidant capacity and radical scavenging activity. For the Australian T. carbonaria, the traditional analytical parameters were similar to those previously reported for neotropical stingless bee honey and confirm that honeys produced by Meliponini bees possess several physicochemical properties that are distinctly different from Apis mellifera honey, with higher values of moisture (26.5 +/- 0.8 g of water/100 g of honey), water activity (0.74 +/- 0.01), electrical conductivity (1.64 +/- 0.12 mS/cm), and free acidity (124.2 +/- 22.9 mEq/kg of honey) and a very low diastase activity (0.4 +/- 0.5 diastase number) and invertase activity (5.7 +/- 1.5 invertase number). The sugar spectrum was quite different from that of A. mellifera honey, with 20.3 +/- 2.9 g of maltose/100 g of honey. The values of pH (4.0 +/- 0.1), lactonic acidity (4.7 +/- 0.8 mEq/kg of honey), sucrose (1.8 +/- 0.4 g/100 g of honey), and fructose/glucose ratio (1.42 +/- 0.13) fell in the same ranges as those of A. mellifera honey. Citric (0.23 +/- 0.09) and malic (0.12 +/- 0.03) acid concentrations (in g/kg of honey) of T. carbonaria honeys were in the range described for A. mellifera honey. D-Gluconic was more concentrated (9.9 +/- 1.3 g/kg of honey), in the range of Italian Castanea, Thymus, Arbutus, and honeydew honeys. Flavonoid content was 10.02 +/- 1.59 mg of quercetin equivalents/100 g of honey, and polyphenol contents were 55.74 +/- 6.11 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g of honey. The antioxidant activity, expressed as percentage of 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) cation (ABTS(*+)) decolorization, was 233.96 +/- 50.95 microM Trolox equivalents, and free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH(*)) depletion was 48.03 +/- 12.58 equivalents of ascorbic acid. All reported values are averages +/- standard deviation. The antioxidant activity can represent an important added value for T. carbonaria honey, to initiate a medicinal approach for both nutritional and pharmaceutical applications, besides further physicochemical characterization.