THE INDICATOR MICROORGANISMS VALUE IN RELATION TO PRIMARY CONTAMINATION OF HONEY

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study and characterize the microbial transit among the honey-bee gastrointestinal tract microflora and bee hive environment, that are the primary sources for the honey microbial community. Therefore, an exhaustive microbial analysis in honey, adult honey-bee gastrointestinal tract, and bee hive environment from different Slovakian regions, was conducted. Our microbial screening revealed that the primary sources of microbial community present in Slovakian honey are the bee hive environment and the honey-bees digestive tract microflora, mainly due microorganisms normally present in dust, air and flowers. We found that the digestive tract of Slovakian adult honey-bees is highly populated by anaerobic, rather than aerobic bacteria, where coliforms, enterococci, staphylococci, Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., microscopic fungi and yeast were found. The bee hive environment revealed the presence of microscopic fungi. Among these, the most representative genera were Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Penicillium. The counts of total anaerobes, total aerobes, coliforms, enterococci, bacilli, microscopic fungi and yeast were monitored in honeys. The most frequently microscopical fungi belonging only to genera Penicillium, Cladosporium and Alternaria were found.

Keywords

• honey
• bee hive environment
• gastrointestinal tract of bees
• microorganisms