Chromatographic-based methods for pesticide determination in honey: An overview

Nowadays the control of pesticides in honey is an issue of primary health importance as consequence of the increasing content of these chemicals in the aforementioned matrix. This poisoning has led to the worldwide increasing loss of bees since 1995. From Europe to Canada, scientist, beekeepers and chemical companies disagree about the reasons that have led to colony losses higher than 50% in some areas. This problem has become a public health issue due to the high honey worldwide consumption. The presence of pesticides in honey has been directly related to bees’ mortality by some researchers through pesticide presence in (1) pollen, (2) honeycomb walls, (3) own bees and (4) honey. In this work we describe the actual state-of-the-art for pesticides determination in honey along with a review in this subject focused on sample treatments and instrumentation. Finally, future trends are also commented.