Pesticide contamination in apicultural products

Honeybees and bee products, such as honey, royal jelly, propolis, pollen, and others, are often found to contain residues of different types of pesticides, including insecticides, acaricides (against varroa mite), fungicides, and herbicides. Bees are exposed either through direct veterinary treatment or by interactions with the environment. Monitoring bees and bee products is thus important both in view of food safety and environmental monitoring. In the review paper, we analysed literature published between 2019 and 2024 and conducted a relational co-occurrence analysis. Our study identified the gaps of the monitored matrices and calls for standardized quality control and reporting practices. The work was partially supported by the ARIS grant J7–50040.

The paper was published in the journal Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221415882600005X#spnsr1