Determination of trace elements in bee honey, pollen and tissue by total reflection and radioisotope X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Multielemental determinations in samples of various types of bee honey, pollen and bee tissue have been carried out using total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) and radioisotope excited X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The objective was to establish whether the elemental content of bee honey, in particular, correlates with any useful information about the environment, variety of honey, etc. An attempt has also been made to determine the X-ray techniques' ability to compete with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), with regard to elemental sensitivity, accuracy, sample preparation procedures, and in particular, economic performance, which is very important in selecting an appropriate technique for the analysis of large numbers of samples. The results confirm the advantages of the TXRF method for trace element analysis, but only when utilising monochromatic excitation and selecting a proper sample preparation procedure. The radioisotope XRF technique, which does not require any sample preparation, is still very competitive in analysis of elements with concentrations above a few ten ppm. Preliminary results also confirm some correlations between the elemental content of honey and the status of the environment, and encourage further work in this direction.