Evaluation of Environmental and Nutritional Aspects of Bee Pollen Samples Collected from East Black Sea Region, Turkey, via Elemental Analysis by ICP-MS

Honeybee pollens are good food sources in terms of their mineral contents and are specific to the regions they are collected. In addition, they may be used as bioindicators in the assessment of environmental pollution based on their potentially toxic element contents. In the present study, mineral element composition and potentially toxic element levels of honeybee pollen samples collected from various cities in East Black Sea Region of Turkey (18 samples) were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after microwave assisted acid digestion. The method validation was performed by using CRM (Certified Reference Material-BCR®279-Sea Lettuce- Ulva lactuca ) to evaluate the accuracy and precision. Elemental composition of honeybee pollens were detected within the following ranges (minimum–maximum, mg kg −1 dry pollen); Mn (manganese): 11.579–117.349, Fe (Iron): 34.865–811.043, Zn (zinc): 17.707–56.223, Se (selenium): 0.422–0.722, Cr (chromium): 0.848–6.949, Cu (copper): 7.510–26.344, Mg (magnesium): 549.921–2149.716, Ca (calcium): 726.575–2201.837, Na (sodium): 36.518–120.283, Pb (lead):