Microbiological and physicochemical quality of honey in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The aim of the study was to investigate the microbiological and physico-chemical quality of honey samples, sampled for the event “Honey Days in FB&H 2020”, which tested a total of 33 samples of different honey types from different geographical areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between physico-chemical properties and microbiological properties of the tested honey to assess quality. The submitted samples originated from both administrative units of B&H, namely from the continental, sub-Mediterranean and Mediterranean part, covering more than 60% of the country’s territory. Of the total number of analysed samples (n=33), nine samples (29.7%) did not meet the requirements of physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of the test. The requirements of one or more quality parameters according to the national Ordinance on methods for the control of honey and other bee products in B&H (Anonymous, 2009) were not met by five samples (16.5%). Four samples (13.2%) did not meet the microbiological quality, as they exceeded the permitted number of yeasts and moulds. In five samples (16.5%), the presence of microorganisms was recorded within the tolerance limits, while Enterobacteriaceae and sulphite-reducing clostridia were not isolated and were below the detection limit in all samples. Honey samples in which the results were found to be unsatisfactory for physico-chemical parameters and microbiological parameters cannot be correlated. Cilj je ovoga rada bio istražiti mikrobiološku i fizikalno-kemijsku kvalitetu uzoraka meda, uzorkovanih za potrebe sajma: “Dani meda u FBiH 2020” u 2020. godini u kojoj su istražena ukupno 33 uzorka različitih vrsta meda s različitog zemljopisnog područija Bosne i Hercegovina (BiH). Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio procijeniti odnos fizikalno-kemijskih osobina i mikrobioloških svojstva ispitivanog meda u svrhu procjene njegove kvalitete. Dostavljeni uzorci su potjecali iz obje administrativno upravne cjeline BiH i to iz kontinentalnog, odnosno submediteranskog i mediteranskog dijela obuhvativši više od 60 % područja države. Od ukupnog broja analiziranih uzoraka (n=33) njih 9 ili 29,7 % nije zadovoljilo zahtjeve fizikalno-kemijskih i mikrobioloških parametara ispitivanja. Zahtjeve jednog ili više parametara kvalitete prema nacionalnom Pravilniku o metodama za kontrolu meda i drugih pčelinjih proizvoda BiH (Anonymous, 2009.) nije zadovoljilo 5 uzoraka (16,5 %). Mikrobiološku kvali