Quantification of Acaricides in Honey and Pollen

The acaricides coumaphos, amitraz, flumethrin and tau-fluvalinate and the internal standards (arachidic acid methyl and tridecane) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO, USA; and HPLC-grade solvents from Machery-Nagel, Bethlehem, PA, USA or LiChrosolv were used. Concentrations were chosen based on previous data reporting the presence of these pesticides in pollen and honey. Tau-fluvalinate was detected at a concentration of 750 ppb in honey [27 (link)] and of 487.2 ppb in pollen [28 (link)]: the selected dose was approximately the average between those values (666 ppb). In the case of coumaphos, 2020 ppb were found in honey [29 (link)] and 5800 ppb in pollen [30 (link)], so the selected dose was approximately the average (3333 ppb). The maximum detection in honey for amitraz was 555 ppb and for flumethrin was 1 ppb [31 (link)].