Monitoring and risk assessment due to presence of metals and pesticides residues in honey samples from the major honey producing forest belts and different brands

Abstract Honey is consumed worldwide because of its nutritional, therapeutic and medicinal purposes. Generally it is perceived that honey reaches its consumer in pure form however this is not always true as contaminants can end up in honey. Thus this study was designed to check the presence of contaminants in honey samples. For this purpose 52 samples were collected from forest belts while 25 samples of national and international brands were purchased. Heavy metals zinc, iron, cobalt and copper were detected in all 52 samples collected from forest belts. In honey brand samples coper (25 samples), cobalt (detected in 12 samples) and chromium (2 samples) were detected above their permissible limits and THQ (Target Hazard Quotient) was also found exceeding 1 for two samples in which cobalt was detected. Lambda Cyhalothrin and bifenthrin were the only pesticides detected in few samples collected from forest belts while Imidacloropid, Difenaconazole, Glyphosate and bifenthrin were detected above their permissible limit in few national and international brands. Health risk index calculations showed that in 4 samples collected from forest belts and one sample of honey brand in which bifenthrin was detected, HRI exceeded its threshold value of 1 showing its potential to pose significant health risk.