honey, contamination, heavy metals, environment pollution indicator
Abstract
Changes in the quality of bee honey are also caused by the contamination with micro-polluting agents, toxic to consumers. This research is about chemical contamination of honey. The honey used in this study was harvested from beehives situated in Copşa Mica (Sibiu region), famous for the ecological unbalances induced by the non-ferrous metal industry through pollution produced by SC Sometra SA. The amount of Pb, Cd and Zn contained in the samples
harvested in the area specifi ed above have been determined using an atomic absorption spectrometer AAS. Amounts of heavy metals above the admitted limit by the OMS 975/88 have been discovered.
The results suggested that honey could be used to detect contaminating agents from the environment.
