Pesticide and veterinary drug residues in honey - validation of methods and a survey of organic and conventional honeys from Slovenia

Four analytical methods were developed and validated for the determination of veterinary drug residues and environmental pesticide residues in honey: (a) GC-MS method for the analysis of amitraz and all metabolites containing the 2,4-dimethylaniline moiety; (b) GC-MS method for the analysis of thymol, chlorfenvinphos and coumaphos; (c) GC-MS method for the analysis of 75 active substances; (d) LC-MS/MS method for the analysis of 60 active substances. Between the GC-MS (method c) and the LC-MS/MS method (method d) there was no overlap among active substances, meaning that using both methods 135 active substances originating from the environment in total were included and validated. The first method involved hydrolysis of amitraz and its metabolites containing the 2,4-dimethylaniline moiety to 2,4-dimethylaniline and extraction of 2,4-dimethylaniline to n-hexane. The other three methods had the same extraction procedure with a mixture of solvents: acetone, dichloromethane and petroleum ether. All 4 methods were tested in practice. Sixty samples of honey were analysed: 22 from organic and 38 from conventional production. Overall, residues were mainly higher than reported in literature but did not exceed MRLs. Risk assessment confirmed that the analysed samples are of no cause for concern for consumers.