Correlations between Lead and Cadmium Pollution of Honey and Environmental Heavy Metal Presence in Two Romanian Counties

Abstract

Environmental heavy metal pollution is a reality in our country and can lead to chemical contamination of products entering in the human food chain. Several European studies linked the environmental level of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) with their respective level in local hive products. In the present study, the purpose was to evaluate if there can be found a correlation between the environmental pollution with cadmium and lead and the level of these metals in some samples of Romanian honey. Honey was harvested from areas located near pollution sources (very circulated points, factories) and from areas generally known as unpolluted (far from towns, circulated roads, industrial plants) of 2 counties, Prahova and Arges (n=108). The metal content was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the team evaluated statistically (t- test) if there are any significaticantive differences between honeys from the 2 types of environment. It has been found that the metal load was greater in polluted areas (for cadmium: t=+6, df=106, p