Present state and perspectives in analytical methods for pesticide residues analysis in bee pollen: an overview

Pollen is a set of pollen grains with a microscopic structure derived from plants. In addition to being the main source of nutrition for bees, pollen has also recently become an important part of the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Pollen is gaining attention as a functional food as well as an important sample that has the potential to bioindicate the presence of contaminants in the environment, enabling monitoring of large areas due to the long distances traveled by bees. Pollen matrix is complex and complicated for analysis, therefore, its influence on analytes in samples must be considered. High yields of pesticide residues can be ensured by selecting a suitable sample preparation method, which includes extraction of analytes and purification of extract. A quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method (QuEChERS), which is the most applicable method for the determination of pesticide residues in bee pollen samples, includes an extraction step using extraction salts (MgSO4, NaCl) whose function is to separate the aqueous phase from the organic phase. The next step of QuEChERS is sample purification by using dispersive solid phase extraction (dSPE). The dSPE method combines various sorbents depending on the type of analytes and the effects of the observed matrix. Other techniques used to extract pesticide residues from bee pollen are ultrasonic-assisted extraction, solid phase matrix dispersion, and the mini-salt-liquid extraction technique (SALLE). Gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC) is most commonly used in combination with mass spectrometry (MS/(MS)) employing various mass analysers to determine pesticides.