International Congrees on Bee Sciences - Abstract Book Honey is defined as the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees (Apis mellifera) from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in the honeycomb to ripen and mature. Honey contains more than 170 substances, and the main compounds are sugars, water, and macro and micro elements. Honey also contains small amounts of phenolic compounds, vitamins, organic acids, enzymes, amino acids and this substance have a high benefit in the human health. Also, many studies demonstrated different therapeutic effects that honey can have (antiinflammatory effects, antibacterial properties, anti-proliferative effects as antioxidants etc.). On the other hand, heavy metals/metalloids, radionuclides, antibiotics, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, herbicides, and neonicotinoids in honey might pose toxic effects, which would be a risk to human health. According to EU legislation that is in force, the use of antibiotics in beekeeping is forbidden. Residues of pesticides such as organochlorine (OCs) and organophosphorus (OPs), carbamates, and pyrethroids have been detected in honey in different studies. In the present work, overview of recent literature data on chemical contaminants in honey was performed. https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:2147 2022 Ćirić, Jelena Đorđević, Vesna Baltić, Tatjana Rajić, Sara Jovanović, Jelena Parunović, Nenad info:eu-repo/semantics/other eng An overview of the chemical contaminants in honey Keywords: honey bee products; honey; pesticides; toxic elements; antibiotics; radionuclides. All rights reserved application/pdf 677003 bytes