Microbiological quality and nutritional values of honey bee pollen

Abstract

The present study was aimed at examining the microbiological, physicochemical, and antioxidant properties of bee pollen samples collected from beekeepers in western Turkey. The results ranged between 2.24-6.87 log CFU/g, 1.98-3.77 log CFU/g, <1.00-2.51 log CFU/g, 4.19-5.30 log CFU/g, and 1.98-3.74 log MPN/g for total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, yeasts, molds, lactic acid bacteria, and total coliform, respectively. S. aureus was under detectable level. Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7 were not detected in the pollen samples. The mean value of the dry matter, ash, titratable acid, pH, ascorbic acid, total carbohydrate, protein, fat, total phenolic content, FRAP, and TEAC of the bee pollen samples were 76.760%, 1.993%, 3.376%, 4.52, 32.047 mg/100g, 5.394 mg/g, 27.609 mg/g, 5.519%, 4.664 mg GAE/g, 29.644 mu mol Trolox/g, and 1.736 mu mol Trolox/g, respectively. The color values of the tested pollens were 56.923, 7.556, 26.456, 27.604, and 74.138 for L*, a*, b*, C*, and H*, respectively. Although the samples were collected mainly from one province (Mug. la) of the Aegean Region (a geographical region by the Mediterranean Sea), a significant variation in the pollen compositions was observed.