Microbiological Assessment, Nutritional Characterization and Phenolic Compounds of Bee Pollen from Mellipona mandacaia Smith, 1983

Molecules

Marivalda Santa Bárbara¹  Cerilene Santiago Machado¹  Geni da Silva Sodré¹  Luís G. Dias²  Leticia M. Estevinho²  Carlos Alfredo Lopes de Carvalho¹ 

[1] Grupo de Pesquisa Insecta, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Ambientais e Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, 44380-000 Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil; E-Mails:;Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus Santa Apolónia, 5301-855 Bragança, Portugal; E-Mail:

关键词: bee pollen;    fatty acids;    Melipona mandacaia;    microbiological quality;    nutritional characterization;    stingless bee;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules200712525

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This study aims to assess the microbiological parameters and the chemical composition of 21 samples of stingless bee pollen (Melipona mandacaia) from two regions of Bahia, Brazil (João Dourado and Uibaí), with particular emphasis on the nutritional value, total phenols and flavonoids and fatty acids composition. Regarding the microbiological quality, the studied microorganisms (moulds and yeasts, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., psychrotrophic and sulfite-reducing Clostridia) were absent in all samples. On the other hand, the values obtained for the aerobic mesophilic microorganism ranged from 11.0 ± 1.0 to 1.32 ± 1.2 cfu∙g⁻¹ (JD samples) and from 282 ± 3.82 to 688 ± 10.1 cfu∙g⁻¹ (U samples). The nutritional parameters (moisture, ash, water activity, pH, total acidity, protein, fiber, total phenolic, flavonoids and reducing sugars) were within the stipulated by law, except for pH and moisture content, which presented superior and inferior values, respectively. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (54.1%) were significantly higher than saturated (42.18%) and monounsaturated (3.71%). It was found that the bee pollen is safe from the microbiological point of view and has a good nutritional quality. The influence of the geographical origin on the assessed parameters was evident, especially concerning the fatty acid profile.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.