Abstract: In order to investigate the microbial contamination and community structure of bee pollen, the bacterial and fungal colony counts (colony forming unit, CFU) of fresh and commercial bee pollen samples from different botanical sources collected from some regions of Zhejiang province were determined as well as their water contents using methods specified in the National Standard of the People’s Republic of China. The bacterial and fungal community structures of camellia bee pollen and lotus bee pollen were analyzed by 16S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) amplicon sequencing, respectively. The results showed that fresh bee pollen had higher water content (> 18%) and lower microbial contamination than bee pollen during storage and transportation. The count of culturable fungal colonies in bee pollen was significantly higher than the count of culturable bacterial colonies. Cyanobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Lactobacillus were the most abundant bacteria in lotus bee pollen and camellia bee pollen, and Davidiellaceae, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium accounted for a higher proportion of the total fungal community. The diversities of fungal community of these two bee pollens were significantly different. We compared the microbial contamination of fresh and stored bee pollen. This study is the first to report a comparison of the bacterial and fungal communities of lotus bee pollen and camellia bee pollen. In general, the diversity of fungal community in bee pollen is high, and based on this, we can predict the presence of abundant mycotoxin-producing fungi and food safety risks. This study can provide a basis for the safety evaluation of bee pollen.

Key words: bee pollen; bacteria; fungi; total colony count; microbial community structure; amplicon sequencing