A simple and fast sample preparation procedure for the determination of traces of Cd, Co, Ni and Pb in honeys was proposed. It included the preparation of acidified sample solutions of honeys, the retention of elements of interest on resin beds of a strongly acidic gel cation exchanger Dowex 50W×8-400, and their elution with a 3.0 mol L-1 HCl solution prior to measurements by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The method provided the precision and the accuracy better than 4.5% and detection limits of 0.005 µg g-1 (Cd), 0.015 µg g-1 (Co, Ni) and 0.073 µg g-1 (Pb). The reliability of results obtained with the developed procedure and FAAS was validated by the recovery test and the comparison with results achieved using the wet digestion and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The method was applied for the analysis of sixty nine samples of honeys originated from the Lower Silesia region (southeast Poland). It was found that Cd, Co and Pb were under detection limits, while Ni was determined in nine honeys at the level of 0.19-0.93 µg g-1.
