High hydrostatic pressure effect on the concentration of selected pesticides residues in spiked honey samples

Abstract

The use of pesticides and especially acaricides, to control Varroa mite populations poses risks for consumers of beehive products such as honey. Treatments, such as heating and ultrasound, only partially reduce the acaricide residues. This study aims to investigate the effect of High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) on malathion, coumaphos, bromopropylate, tau-fluvalinate, and chlorpyrifos residues in spiked honey samples. Different pressures (150, 400 & 580 MPa), processing time (1, 3, 6 & 12 min), and temperatures (4, 25 & 35οC) were tested. The oxygen present in the packaging was tested for its effect on the efficiency of the treatment. Qualitative and quantitative determination of residues were performed with gas chromatography (GC - μECD). The reduction ascertained was 30.6%, 28.6%, 21%, 15.7%, and 10.6% for malathion, chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, bromopropylate and tau-fluvalinate, respectively. Processing did not significantly affect honey quality, while an enhancement of antioxidative properties was recorded.