Imported Chinese pollens are widely used in Australia to supplement local pollens collected by forager bees. I was interested in determining the level of chemical residues found in Chinese and local pollens and pollen substitutes so I sent a range of samples to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Residue Testing lab in Gastonia, North Carolina for analysis. The USDA provides a standard battery of residue tests to determine if there are trace levels of 199 commonly used agricultural chemicals that may be harmful to honey bees. Test results for the residues detected are shown in table 1. The full results can be found at:

http://www.bobsbeekeeping.com.au/resources/