Quality Assessment, Functional Potentials, and Safety Evaluation of Stored Egyptian Honey as an Environmental Pollution Bioindicator.

Egyptian honeys are distinguished by their variety, properties, and therapeutic applications. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the quality and the functional and safety characteristics of Egyptian honey as a sensitive environmental bioindicator collected from 9 different locations in Egypt that were exposed to various air pollution sources, either stationary, mobile, or area sources, and stored for 6 mo at ambient temperature (22 ± 2 °C) compared with Codex Alimentarius international standards. Physicochemical properties, sugar profile via high performance liquid chromatography, functional potentials (antioxidant and antimicrobial), and safety parameters (microbiological quality, aflatoxins, and heavy metal pollutants) were assessed.