Determination of eucalyptol camphor menthol and thymol in Greek thyme honey by GC-FID

Characterisation of unifloral honeys is a hard task that involves evaluation of the results of melissopalynological, physicochemical and sensory analyses. Finding reliable chemical markers to ascertain botanical origin of honey is of great importance to the beekeeping industry. The purpose of this work was to analyse untreated Greek thyme honeys and evaluate the possibility of establishing chemical markers for this honey by using a simple and reliable analytical method. The analytical method employed consists of extraction on octadecylsilica cartridges, GC separation and FID detection. The limits of detection were 30, 20, 15 and 15 μg kg−1 for eucalyptol, camphor, menthol and thymol, respectively, while the limit of quantification for each substance was 50 μg kg−1. Overall recoveries were >85%. The results showed that none of the 47 thyme honey samples analysed contained eucalyptol or camphor. All samples contained menthol and thymol, but the concentrations were very low ranging from traces to 51.3 μg kg−1 and 65 μg kg−1, respectively

Application of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Cause and Effect Analysis in Conjunction with ISO 22000 to a Snails (Helix aspersa) Processing Plant; A Case Study

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) has been applied for the risk assessment of snails manufacturing. A tentative approach of FMEA application to the snails industry was attempted in conjunction with ISO 22000. Preliminary Hazard Analysis was used to analzse and predict the occurring failure modes in a food chain system (snails processing plant), based on the functions, characteristics, and/or interactions of the ingredients or the processes, upon which the system depends. Critical Control points have been identified and implemented in the cause and effect diagram (also known as Ishikawa, tree diagram, and fishbone diagram). In this work a comparison of ISO22000 analysis with HACCP is carried out over snails processing and packaging. However, the main emphasis was put on the quantification of risk assessment by determining the RPN per identified processing hazard. Sterilization of tins, bioaccumulation of heavy metals, packaging of shells and poisonous mushrooms, were the processes identified as the ones with the highest RPN (280, 240, 147, 144, respectively) and corrective actions were undertaken. Following the application of corrective actions, a second calculation of RPN values was carried out leading to considerably lower values (below the upper acceptable limit of 130). It is noteworthy that the application of Ishikawa (Cause and Effect or Tree diagram) led to converging results thus corroborating the validity of conclusions derived from risk assessment and FMEA. Therefore, the incorporation of FMEA analysis within the ISO22000 system of a snails processing industry is considered imperative

The miticide thymol in combination with trace levels of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid reduces visual learning performance in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

International audienceDespite growing concerns over the impacts of agricultural pesticides on honey bee health, miticides (a group of pesticides used within hives to kill bee parasites) have received little attention. We know very little about how miticides might affect bee cognition, particularly in interaction with other known stressors, such as crop insecticides. Visual learning is essential for foraging bees to find their way to flowers, recognize them, and fly back to the nest. Using a standardized aversive visual conditioning assay, we tested how field exposure to three pesticides affects visual learning in European honey bees (Apis mellifera). Our pesticides were two common miticides, thymol in the commercial formulation Apiguard® and tau-fluvalinate in the formulation Apistan® and one neonicotinoid, imidacloprid. We found no effect of miticides alone, nor of field-relevant doses of imidacloprid alone, but bees exposed to both thymol and imidacloprid showed reduced performance in the visual learning assay