engleski

Determination of residual paraffin in honeycomb constructed on adulterated foundations

Paraffin is the most commonly used beeswax adulterant due to its specific physico-chemical properties, low price, availability and lack of internationally standardized analytical methods and regulations controlling beeswax authenticity. Consequently, the accumulation and circulation of paraffin in comb foundation production process is inevitably. A causal effects of paraffin adulteration on the quality and chemical composition of the comb constructed on foundations contaminated with paraffin, as a material that further enters comb foundation production process, have not yet been investigated. Also, there are no data on the amount of paraffin that remains in the honeycomb after it was built on adulterated foundations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the residual paraffin share in the honeycomb constructed on paraffin-based foundations. Comb foundations containing 90% of paraffin were placed in 5 Apis mellifera colonies (3 frames / LR hive) situated at experimental apiaries in Croatia at the beginning of May 2014, and left until the honey bees finished comb construction. In order to determine the exact proportion of residual paraffin in constructed combs, samples of adulterated foundations and combs built on them were recorded separately (n=30) by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. Combs constructed on experimental paraffin foundations were melted separately prior to spectroscopic analysis. PLSR model was used for determination of paraffin share in analyzed samples. The results have revealed that 47-67% of paraffin remains in the newly built comb indicating that honey bees can annul at best only 50 % of paraffin by their work (addition of virgin beeswax).

paraffin; beeswax adulteration; comb foundations; FTIR-ATR spectroscopy; residual paraffin share in honeycomb

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