The water samples from Rasina District (Serbia) were evaluated for principal physical and chemical parameters, as well as for microbiological contaminants. Results were compared to National and World Health Organization (WHO) water quality standards. Several samples contained total organic matter, ammonia, residual chlorine, nitrite, nitrate, iron and manganese above proposed legislation limits. For samples contaminated with faecal bacteria, Streptococcus faecalis, aerobic mesophilic bacteria, coliform bacteria and sulfite-reducing clostridia special attention should be payed to drinking water disinfecting methods. The potential health risks of waterborne diseases due to consumption of water from contaminated sources could be implied.
The present work determined complete mineral profile of four different types of grains (spelt, soybean, maize, and buckwheat) grown under two growing systems – conventional and organic. The contents of 20 macro-, micro- and trace elements were analysed in the examined grains by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). In most samples, nine elements were present in concentrations higher than 10 mg/kg. The remaining elements were present at lower concentrations or in traces or not detected in certain samples. Aluminium and arsenic, as two toxic elements, were detected only in organic buckwheat grains. Based on the obtained results for the mineral contents, a nutritive assessment of the quality of grains of spelt, soybean, maize, and buckwheat were made. Results of nutritional assessment showed that spelt, soybean, and buckwheat grains could potentially be good sources of several minerals for human diet. On the other hand, the presence of some toxic elements, such as cadmium and strontium, should be monitored. Results of principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) shown that the mineral composition, to a much greater extent, depended on the botanical origin of grains as compared to the production system.
Due to its divergent chemical composition and good nutritional properties, pollen is not only important as a potential food supplement but also as a good substrate for the development of different microorganisms. Among such microorganisms, toxigenic fungi are extremely dangerous as they can synthesize mycotoxins as a part of their metabolic pathways. Furthermore, favorable conditions that enable the synthesis of mycotoxins (adequate temperature, relative humidity, pH, and a(w) values) are found frequently during pollen collection and/or production process. Internationally, several different mycotoxins have been identified in pollen samples, with a noted predominance of aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, and T-2 toxin. Mycotoxins are, generally speaking, extremely harmful for humans and other mammals. Current EU legislation contains guidelines on the permissible content of this group of compounds, but without information pertaining to the content of mycotoxins in pollen. Currently only aflatoxins have been researched and discussed in the literature in regard to proposed limits. Therefore, the aim of this review is to give information about the presence of different mycotoxins in pollen samples collected all around the world, to propose possible aflatoxin contamination pathways, and to emphasize the importance of a regular mycotoxicological analysis of pollen. Furthermore, a suggestion is made regarding the legal regulation of pollen as a food supplement and the proposed tolerable limits for other mycotoxins.
Due to its divergent chemical composition and good nutritional properties, pollen is not only important as a potential food supplement but also as a good substrate for the development of different microorganisms. Among such microorganisms, toxigenic fungi are extremely dangerous as they can synthesize mycotoxins as a part of their metabolic pathways. Furthermore, favorable conditions that enable the synthesis of mycotoxins (adequate temperature, relative humidity, pH, and a w values) are found frequently during pollen collection and/or production process. Internationally, several different mycotoxins have been identified in pollen samples, with a noted predominance of aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, and T-2 toxin. Mycotoxins are, generally speaking, extremely harmful for humans and other mammals. Current EU legislation contains guidelines on the permissible content of this group of compounds, but without information pertaining to the content of mycotoxins in pollen. Currently only aflatoxins have been researched and discussed in the literature in regard to proposed limits. Therefore, the aim of this review is to give information about the presence of different mycotoxins in pollen samples collected all around the world, to propose possible aflatoxin contamination pathways, and to emphasize the importance of a regular mycotoxicological analysis of pollen. Furthermore, a suggestion is made regarding the legal regulation of pollen as a food supplement and the proposed tolerable limits for other mycotoxins.
"Bee pollen" is pollen collected from flowers by honey bees. It is used by the bees to nourish themselves, mainly by providing royal jelly and brood food, but it is also used for human nutrition. For the latter purpose, it is collected at the hive entrance as pellets that the bees bring to the hive. Bee pollen has diverse bioactivities, and thus has been used as a health food, and even as medication in some countries. In this paper, we provide standard methods for carrying out research on bee pollen. First, we introduce a method for the production and storage of bee pollen which assures quality of the product. Routine methods are then provided for the identification of the pollen's floral sources, and determination of the more important quality criteria such as water content and content of proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, alkaloids, phenolic and polyphenolic compounds. Finally, methods are described for the determination of some important bioactivities of bee pollen such as its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antimutagenic properties. Métodos estándar Para la investigación del polen El "polen de abeja" es el polen recogido de las flores por las abejas melíferas. El polen de abeja es utilizado para nutrir a las propias abejas, principalmente para proporcionar jalea real y alimento para las crías, pero también se utiliza para la nutrición humana. Para este último fin, se recoge en la entrada de la colmena en forma de gránulos que las abejas llevan a la colmena. El polen de abeja tiene diversas bioactividades, por lo que se hautilizado como alimento para la salud, e incluso como medicamento en algunos países. En este artículo, proporcionamos métodos estándar para llevar a cabo investigaciones sobre el polen de abeja. En primer lugar, presentamos un método de producción y almacenamiento de polen de abeja que garantiza la calidad del producto. A continuación, se ofrecen métodos de rutina para la identificación de las fuentes florales del polen y la determinación de los criterios de calidad más importantes, como el contenido de agua y de proteínas, carbohidratos, ácidos grasos, vitaminas, alcaloides y compuestos fenólicos y polifenólicos. Por último, se describen métodos para la determinación de algunas bioactividades importantes del polen de abeja, como sus propiedades antioxidantes, antiinflamatorias, antimicrobianas y antimutagénicas. ; The COLOSS (Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes) Association aims to explain and prevent massive honey bee colony losses. It was funded through the COST Action FA0803. COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a unique means for European researchers to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all scientific disciplines through trans-European networking of nationally funded research activities. Based on a pan-European intergovernmental framework for cooperation in science and technology, COST has contributed since its creation more than 40 years ago to closing the gap between science, policy makers and society throughout Europe and beyond. COST is supported by the EU Seventh Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration activities (Official Journal L 412, 30 December 2006). The European Science Foundation as implementing agent of COST provides the COST Office through an EC Grant Agreement. The Council of the European Union provides the COST Secretariat. The COLOSS network is now supported by the Ricola Foundation – Nature & Culture. Figures 26–28 are reproduced from Sawyer (1981) with the permission of the publishers University College Cardiff Press and Northern Bee Books. Lidia Barreto and J Nordi wish to thank the Apiculture Research Center of Taubate University (UNITAU-SP/Brazil) and Agriculture Secretary of Bahia State (SEAGRI-BA/ BRAZIL). Maria Campos wishes to thank (UI0204): UIDB/ 00313/2020, Center of Chemistry from Faculty of Sciences and Technology of University of Coimbra, Portugal. Of elia Anjos wishes to thank to Forest Research Centre, a research unit funded by Fundac¸~ao para a Ci^encia e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT), Portugal (UIDB/00239/2020), and to Centro de Biotecnologia de Plantas da Beira Interior for the OPUS software availability. Norma Almaraz Abarca thanks to the Instituto Politecnico Nacional for financial and logistic support. Manuel Chica and Pascual Campoy wish to thank the APIFRESH project. APIFRESH has been co-funded by the European Commission under the R4SMEs 7th Framework Program. Olena Lokutova thanks the Austrian Institute of beekeeping, Dr H Pehhacker and the same members of the Institute H Hagel and E H€uttinger for conducting photomicroscopic studies and pollen analysis Ukrainian samples of pollen loads, which were the basis of the atlas of pollen "honey plants" of Ukraine. Olena is grateful also to Polish colleagues Z Warakomska (Department of Botany University of Lublin) and D Teper (Polish Institute of beekeeping) for their professionalism and consultations to determine the botanical origin of some Ukrainian honey. Also thanks to their scientific advisers' academician G Bogdanov (National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine), Prof. V Polishuk (Department of beekeeping National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine) and O Martynyuk (M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, Kiev, Ukraine) for his helpful co-operation in the field of beekeeping and palinology. Janka Nozkova wishes to thank the Operational Program Research and Development of the European Regional Development Fund in the frame of the project "Support of technologies innovation for special bio-food products for human healthy nutrition" (ITMS 26220220115) and also by the Excellence Center for Agrobiodiversity Conservation and Benefit – project implemented under the Operational Program Research and Development financed by European Fund for Regional Development ITMS 26220120015 (Slovak Republic) and all colleagues from Institute of Biodiversity and Biosafety, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra for their help with image analysis. Ananias Pascoal, Georgina Tolentino and Let ıcia Estevinho would like to thank Fundac¸~ao para a Ci^encia e Tecnologia (FCT), Programa Operacional Pontencial Humano (POPH) and European Union (EU) for his Postdoctoral grant SFRH/BPD/91380/2012. Wiebke Sickel, Markus Ankenbrand, Gudrun Grimmer, Frank F€orster, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter and Alexander Keller thank the financial support by the DFG Collaborative Research Center 1047, Insect Timing. MJA was further supported by a grant of the German Excellence Initiative to the Graduate School of Life Sciences of the University of W€urzburg. They are grateful to the members of the Departments of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology; Bioinformatics; and Human Genetics, University of W€urzburg, for constructive input on the design of the workflow. Additionally thank to the Department of Human Genetics, especially S. Rost, for granting access to the Illumina MiSeq device. Zivoslav Te si c, Mirjana Mosi c, Aleksandar Kosti c, Mirjana Pe si c, Du sanka Milojkovi c-Opsenica thank the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia, Grants 172017 and TR 31069. Gina Tolentino would like to thank the Mountain Research Center (CIMO), Agricultural College of Bragança, Polytechnic Institute of Braganc¸a for his research grant in the project titled " Development of new bee products in biological production way." ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
