Premium
Residues of organic contaminants in beeswax
Author(s) -
Jiménez Juan José,
Bernal José Luis,
del Nozal María Jesús,
Martín María Teresa
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
european journal of lipid science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.614
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1438-9312
pISSN - 1438-7697
DOI - 10.1002/ejlt.200500284
Subject(s) - beeswax , contamination , chemistry , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , biology , wax , ecology
Abstract Residues of the varroacides amitraz, chlordimeform, chlorfenvinphos, bromopropylate, coumaphos, tetradifon, acrinathrin, and fluvalinate, the organic microcontaminants 4,4'‐DDE, 4,4'‐TDE, PCB 153 and PCB 180, and the lipophilic pesticides lindane, chlorpyrifos and endosulfan have been determined by GC/MS in 52 beeswax samples. Recoveries on spiked samples ranged from 93 to 108% and determination limits varied from 4 to 65 µg/kg. Lindane (0.042–0.29 mg/kg), chlorfenvinphos (0.16–7.62 mg/kg), 4,4'‐TDE (0.20 mg/kg), bromopropylate (0.041–0.12 mg/kg), tetradifon (0.032–0.58 mg/kg), acrinathrin (0.058–0.59 mg/kg), coumaphos (0.27–0.38 mg/kg), fluvalinate (0.064–5.10 mg/kg), endosulfan sulfate (0.12–0.37 mg/kg) and 3‐phenoxybenzaldehyde, a degradation product of fluvalinate and acrinathrin (0.080–1.47 mg/kg), were the compounds detected in beeswax. Foundation beeswax sheets contained higher contaminant concentrations and a greater diversity of compounds in relation to comb beeswaxes. Repeated melting in boiling water of purified beeswax spiked with the contaminants did not substantially modify the content of most of the contaminants in beeswax, except for amitraz and chlordimeform, showing that the contaminants are stable and remain practically unchanged in the purified beeswax.