Abstract
Total fungal count, incidence of fungi and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) concentration were studied in 33 samples of bee pollen randomly collected from beekeepers in Serbia. The total number of fungi was determined by dilution method whereas AFB1 was detected using the Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA). The mycological estimation showed the presence of nine genera of fungi as followed: Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Epiccocum, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium and Rhizopus, with total number ranging from 1 x 103 to 1 x 105 CFU g-1. The results have shown the predominance of the fungi from the genera Aspergillus and Alternaria. Among Aspergillus species it was observed that the most frequent species was A. flavus with incidence of 27.27 %. Mycotoxin AFB1 was detected as 100% positive in all samples (100%) with an average concentration of 8.61 ?g kg-1. The obtained results indicated that honey bee pollen must be strictly controlled during its manipulation in the harvesting and manufacturing. Therefore, the implementation of good manufacturing (beekeeping) practice to define procedures for honeybee products could be crucial to reduce the risk of possible contamination and provide natural and safety product without risk on the human health.
Highlights
Serbia posess excellent prerequisities for the development of beekeeping, due to heterogeneous relief and climatic conditions and various honey bee pasture (Nedić et al, 2011)
The results have shown the predominance of the fungi from the genera Aspergillus and Alternaria
Considering that the consumption of bee pollen could be a potential risk for the human health if it is contaminated with the mycotoxigenic fungi, the main objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of natural mycobiota in bee pollen originated from Serbia, as well as to estimate the level of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in those samples
Summary
Serbia posess excellent prerequisities for the development of beekeeping, due to heterogeneous relief and climatic conditions and various honey bee pasture (Nedić et al, 2011). Bee pollen as one of bee product is considered as the most complete food in the nature. It is made of natural flower pollen homogenized with small quantities of nectar and bee saliva and collected at the hive entrance. The consumption of bee pollen is constantly increased due to grooving consumers demand for the healthier and nutritious diet (Linskens and Jorde, 1997). Nowadays, it is used less as a crude product, but more as dietary supplement added to the honey mixture. Pollen has high contents of biological active substances such as polyphenols, mainly flavonoids which possess high antioxidant capacity (Carpes et al, 2009; Leja et al, 2007)
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