Residues of tetracycline, chloramphenicol and tylosin antibiotics in the egyptian bee honeys collected from different governorates

Abstract

Background and Objective: Bee honey as one of the most complete natural food for humans due to its therapeutic effect. Antibiotic residues in bee honey are still a significant problem in a wide range of the world. This study was conducted to determine three antibiotics residues, tylosin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline in the Egyptian bee honeys to give short brief about the Egyptian honeys status. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four bee honey samples (52 bee honey samples produced in different seasons and regions +12 samples from Egyptian supermarket) were collected from different types and governorates to determine the antibiotics residues by using high performance liquid chromatography. Results: Egyptian bee honey samples had contaminated by residues of 89 tylosin, 47% chloramphenicol and 31% tetracycline. Although, commonly used the antibiotics tylosin in the most tested samples, chloramphenicol recorded highest estimated residue. Conclusion: The chloramphenicol residues recorded the highest mean value comparing with tylosin and tetracycline residues in all types of bee honey except citrus and banana bee honeys. Natural bee honey should be free from any antibiotic residues and its presence due to wrong practices and lack of awareness of beekeepers, which negatively affected on human nutrition and health. Moreover, need to encourage beekeepers and urge them to transfer their colonies to newly reclaimed areas.