Química Nova

p. 920-924 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2014-01-22T15:20:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 0100-40422007000400030.pdf: 107046 bytes, checksum: b218c9a46ce9f8e49563bade04b991f5 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-22T15:20:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 0100-40422007000400030.pdf: 107046 bytes, checksum: b218c9a46ce9f8e49563bade04b991f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 Honey is a food used since the most remote times, appreciated for its characteristic flavor, considerable nutritional value and medicinal properties; however, little information exists about the presence of chemical elements in it. The objectives of this work were to determine the chemical elements present in 38 honey samples, collected directly from beekeepers from the State of Piauí, Brazil and to verify whether they presented any contamination. The chemical elements were determined by means of Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence. The means of three replicates were: K (109.671 ± 17.487), Ca (14.471 ± 3.8797), Ti (0.112 ± 0.07), Cr (0.196 ± 0.11), Mn (0.493 ± 0.103), Fe (1.722 ± 0.446), Co (0.038), Ni (0.728 ± 0.706), Cu (0.179 ± 0.0471), Zn (0.967 ± 0.653), Se (not detected), Br (not detected), Rb (0.371 ± 0.097), Sr (0.145 ± 0.45), Ba (11.681), Hg (not detected), and Pb (0.863) µg g-1.