Apidologie 33 (2002) 545-552
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2002038

Application of solid phase microextraction to evaluate traces of thymol in honey

Lara Piasenzotto^a, Luisa Gracco^a, Lanfranco S. Conte^a and Stefan Bogdanov<sup>b

a</sup>  Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti Università degli Studi di Udine, Via Marangoni 97, 33100 Udine, Italy
^b  Schweizerisches Zentrum für Bienenfschung, Liebefeld Schwarzenburgstrasse 155, 3003 Bern, Switzerland

(Received 20 October 2001; revised 7 November 2001; accepted 5 April 2002)

Abstract
The solid phase microextraction technique was tested for thymol evaluation in honey. Thymol can be present in honey as a residue of treatments against Varroa destructor Honey was sampled from apiaries treated with anti-Varroa products whose active ingredient is thymol. Thymol evaluation was done using the internal standard method; benzophenone and carvacrol were tested as internal standards/ the best results were obtained using benzophenone. The application of an alkaline hydrolysis was important for obtaining quantitative recoveries.

Key words: honey / solid phase microextraction / thymol / Varroa destructor / gas chromatography

Correspondence and reprints: Lanfranco S. Conte
    e-mail: lanfranco.conte@dsa.uniud.it

© INRA, EDP Sciences, DIB, AGIB 2002