Organic acids and their derivatives: minor components of bee pollen, bee bread, royal jelly and bee venom

This study aimed to determine the organic acid profiles of bee products such as royal jelly, bee venom, bee pollen and bee bread, as well as to verify the method employed in the study. For this purpose, royal jelly, bee venom, bee pollen and bee bread samples were obtained from different locations, and 55 individual organic acids were determined using the liquid chromatography technique coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS), and method verification was carried out. Moreover, principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses were performed to compare the organic acid content of bee products and evaluate the overall variation. According to the results, the order of the total organic acid profiles was determined as bee venom (4141 mg/kg-6260 mg/kg) > bee bread (736–990 mg/kg) > bee pollen (837–1503 mg/kg) > royal jelly (192–1947 mg/kg). Although citric acid (423–41,519 mg/kg) was dominantly detected in samples among the organic acids screened. It is thought that the results obtained will contribute to scientific studies carried out to determine the authenticity of bee products and their standardization.