Recent trends in postharvest handling, preservation, processing and application of bee pollen

Abstract The concerns of healthy diet and demand for natural products incite the rising interest for bee products in particular bee pollen (BP). In several studies, BP is mentioned as a noble natural product, highlighting its nutritional value, medicinal benefits, and functional properties. These are the crucial aspects of BP that draws the interest of consumers, food and pharmaceutical industry. Worker honeybee agglomerate flower pollen grains using nectar/honey and their salivary gland secretion to form BP which facilitate pollen grain handling to the hive. For commercial purpose, BP is harvested using pollen trap installed on hive entrance. Fresh BP has high inherent moisture content, nutrients and bioactive substances and easily deteriorates due to external factors. Thus, immediate and appropriate postharvest technologies should be implemented for further applications of BP as a functional food, ingredient and preparation of nutraceutical products. The objective of this review work is to provide a comprehensive summary on the nature, post-harvest handling, preservation, processing, and present applications of BP, and future perspectives to strengthen the existing knowledge. The required literatures were obtained from online databases using the keywords. It is found that fresh BP is high in inherent moisture, and rich in nutrient and bioactive substances with diverse techno- and bio-functional properties mainly affected by botanical origin. Since, early time, it has been applied as functional food. However, recently exploited as a potential functional ingredient and source of various nutraceutical substances. Increasing research findings on the potential of BP application in bio-product formulation drawn the interest of food and pharmaceutical industries with promising future multi-sectoral applications.