Pesticides in honey: A review on chromatographic analytical methods

Honey is a product of high consumption due to its nutritional and antimicrobial properties. However, residues of pesticides, used in plagues' treatment in the hive or in crop fields in the neighborhoods, can compromise its quality. Therefore, determination of these contaminants in honey is essential, since the use of pesticides has increased significantly in recent decades because of the growing demand for food production. Furthermore, pesticides in honey can be an indicator of environmental contamination. As the concentration of these compounds in honey is usually at trace levels and several pesticides can be found simultaneously, the use of highly sensitive and selective techniques is required. In this context, miniaturized sample preparation approaches and liquid or gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry became the most important analytical techniques. In this review we present and discuss recent studies dealing with pesticide determination in honey, focusing on sample preparation and separation/detection methods as well as application of the developed methods worldwide. Furthermore, trends and future perspectives are presented.