Bee Products and Nutritional Value

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit a paper for this Special Issue of Agriculture entitled "Bee Products and Nutritional Value".

Bee products have attracted considerable interest due to their rich nutritional content and diverse biological activities. Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) can produce many by-products, including honey, bee pollen, propolis, bee bread, royal jelly and beeswax. Today, their use is limited, mainly as food supplements or health products. In addition, these natural products are valued for their medicinal benefits as they are excellent sources of bioactive compounds such as macro- (e.g., Ca, K and Mg) and micronutrients, vitamins (such as vitamins C and B) and various enzymes and amino acids, which synergistically provide these by-products with multiple biological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. While bees are at the heart of the ecosystem, one in ten wild bee species is threatened with extinction. The number of bees is declining as they face many threats, including habitat loss, the use of agrochemicals, disease, pollution and parasites. Using veterinary medicines or pesticides on honeybees is associated with health risks, as the residues of these substances can be transferred to honey and honey-based products. The aim of this Special Issue is to collect excellent/innovative papers on the nutritional value and safety of bee products. All studies (review articles and original research) related to the identification/quantification not only of different nutrients but also of organic (i.e., plasticizers, bisphenols, pesticides, PAHs, PCBs, etc.) and inorganic (e.g., toxic and potentially toxic elements) contaminants will be considered. In addition, the risk assessment of consumer health after consumption of bee products characterized by the presence of these contaminants is also a topic of this Special Issue. It is hoped that this Special Issue will provide important information and data on the beneficial components of bee products and for the future prediction of contaminants to develop strategies to reduce these contaminants in honeybee products.

Dr. Vincenzo Nava
Prof. Dr. Giuseppa Di Bella
Dr. Federica Litrenta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• bee products
• microbiological and chemical contamination
• health benefits
• quality and safety