Abstract
This study investigated physicochemical properties and pesticide residue levels of honey from West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia. The results of moisture, electrical conductivity, pH, free acidity, reducing sugar, sucrose, ash, and total solids were found to be 16.61–18.64%, 0.384–0.646 mS/cm, 3.77–4.22, 7.42–13.87 meq/kg, 61.38–72.87%, 6.84–15.94%, 0.030–0.095%, and 81.36–83.28%, respectively. Correlation analysis has shown moderate positive correlation at P < 0.01 between sucrose and ash (r = 0.555), and a strong negative correlation between moisture and total solids (r = -0.9171). Residues of 4,4-DDD, 4,4-DDT, Dieldrin, α-Endosulfan, and β-Endosulfan were detected, among 20 organochlorine pesticides analyzed. Most physicochemical parameters have been found within the acceptable range set by national and international standards except sucrose content from Ejere and Toke Kutaye. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of pesticides identified in samples were below acceptable daily intakes (ADIs), that indicate honey ingesting has a negligible influence to toxicological risk.
Highlights
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance produced by bees (Apis mellifera L.) and other related insects
Our results indicated that the electrical conductivity (EC) values of the honey samples were in agreement with those reported values of honey samples from Nigeria by Adenekan et al (2010) [1] which ranges from 0.25–0.64 mS/cm, and honey samples from Malaysia by Moniruzzaman et al (2013) [35] which ranges from 0.35–0.76 mS/cm
Physicochemical properties data have shown that almost all the samples of honey analyzed were within the acceptable range of Ethiopian Standard, European Standard and Codex Alimentarius except sucrose content from Ejere and Toke Kutaye
Summary
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance produced by bees (Apis mellifera L.) and other related insects. Determination of physicochemical parameters of honey is very significant to the honey industry, as these factors are intimately related to storage quality, granulation, texture, flavor, and the nutritional and medicinal values of honey [7, 10]. No research has been carried out to determine the physicochemical parameters and pesticide residue of honey from West Shewa Zone. The present study was aimed to provide information on the physicochemical properties and pesticide residue of honey samples obtained from different Woredas of West Shewa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia
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