APPLICATION OF SPECTROSCOPY IN ANALYSIS OF SOME FLORAL HONEY SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM FOUR SOUTH ROMANIAN COUNTIES IN 2021

This article examined the effect of geographical (different climate conditions) and floral origins on some quality parameters of honey including the activity of diastase enzyme. Moreover, some non-quality parameters were investigated such as the pH, fructose, glucose, ratio of fructose/glucose and invertase. The honey samples were collected from Asir (cold climate) and Jazan (hot climate) regions at the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia. The geographical origin significantly affected the mean value moisture of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.02), conductivity of the polyfloral honey (p-value = 0.03), sucrose of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.02), diastase activity of the Acacia (p-value = 0.001), Ziziphus (p-value = 0.046) and polyfloral honey (p-value ≤ 0.001), fructose of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.01), glucose of the Ziziphus honey (p-value = 0.03), fructose/ glucose ratio of the Ziziphus honey (p-value = 0.035), and invertase activity of the polyfloral honey (p-value ≤ 0.001). Regarding the effect of the floral origin of the honey from Asir region, the sucrose percentage of the Acacia honey was significantly more than that of the polyfloral honey (p- value = 0.003), the diastase activity of the Acacia honey was significantly more than its activity in the Ziziphus honey (p- value = 0.044), glucose percentage of the Ziziphus honey was significantly more the glucose percentage of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.009) and the fructose/ glucose ratio of the Ziziphus honey was significantly more than that of the Acacia and polyforal honeys (p-value = 0.011 and p-value = 0.045, respectively). Concerning the significant effects of the floral origin on the quality parameters of the honey samples from Jazan region, the moisture of the Ziziphus honey was significantly increased when compared to the moisture of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.038), the acidity of the polfloral honey was significantly more than the acidity of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.049), the sum of fructose and glucose of the polyfloral honey was significantly increased compared to that of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.015), the pH of the Ziziphus hiney was significantly more than the pH of the polyfloral honey (0.011) and the fructose of the polfloral honey was significantly more than that of the Acacia honey (p-value = 0.031). The effect of the geographical origin of the honey samples on their quality parameters depends on their floral origin and the effect of their floral origin differs according to their geographical origin. This article suggests considering collectively the geographical and floral origins effect when developing honey standards. However, the Codex standards for honey started considering this issue when it changed the standard concentration of HMF in honey from not more than 80–40 mg/Kg for honeys from cold climate and 80 mg/Kg for honeys from hot climates.

The activity of honey enzymes are affected by floral and geographical origins, climate conditions, honeybee species, health and nutrition. This article investigated the effect of floral and geographical origins on the activity of glucose oxidase (GOx) and catalase (CAT) enzymes in honey samples from the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the moisture, total sugars, pH and conductivity were measured as quality parameters. The floral origin of the honey samples was determined microscopically while the quality parameters were measured according to the methods of international honey commission. The activity of the honey enzyme was determined following the instructions of the Megazyme International kits. The obtained results were statistically analyzed by the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, v.20). The GOx activity of the Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honey samples of the Asir region were (5.19 ± 2.33 U/g), (4.01 ± 1.17 U/g) and (5.69 ± 1.67 U/g), respectively. The Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honey samples from the Jazan region had GOx activities of (6.85 ± 0.47 U/g), (10.48 ± 9.22 U/g) and (5.31 ± 2.7 U/g), respectively. The geographical origin significantly affected the GOx activity of Ziziphus honey (p-value = 0.005) and the GOx activity of the Ziziphus honey was significantly more than that of the polyfloral honey of the Jazan region (p-value = 0.009). With regard to the CAT activity in Asir region honey samples, the mean values of the Acacia, Ziziphus and polyfloral honeys were (2.89 ± 1.08 U/g), (3.58 ± 1.59 U/g) and (2.84 ± 1.24 U/g), respectively. The mean values of the CAT activity in the Jazan honey samples were Acacia (4.35 ± 1.01 U/g), Ziziphus (3.94 ± 0.04 U/g) and polyfloral (3.43 ± 0.67 U/g). The geographical origin significantly affected the CAT activity in Acacia honey (p-value = 0.014). The geographical and floral origins had significant effects on the activity of the honey GOx and CAT enzymes.

New method for risk assessment in environmental health: The paradigm of heavy metals in honey

Detection of adulteration in Chinese honey using NIR and ATR-FTIR spectral data fusion.

The nutritional composition of honey is determined by environmental conditions, and botanical and geographical origin. In addition to carbohydrates, honey also contain pollen grains, proteins, free amino acids, and minerals. Although the content of proteins in honey is low, they are an important component that confirms the authenticity and quality of honey; therefore, they became a popular study object. The aim of the study was to evaluate protein content and composition of monofloral red clover and rapeseed honey collected from five different districts of Lithuania. Forty-eight proteins were identified in five different origin honey samples by liquid chromatography. The number of red clover proteins identified in individual honey samples in monofloral red clover honey C3 was 39 in polyfloral honey S22–36, while in monofloral rapeseed honey S5, S15, and S23 there was 33, 32, and 40 respectively. Aphids’ proteins and lactic acid bacteria were identified in all honey samples tested. The linear relationship and the strongest correlation coefficient (r = 0.97) were determined between the content of Apilactobacillus kunkeei and Apilactobacillus apinorum, as well as between the number of faba bean (Vicia faba) pollen and lactic acid bacteria (r = 0.943). The data show a strong correlation coefficient between the amount of lactic acid and aphid protein number (r = 0.693). More studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between the pollination efficiency of red clover by bees and the multiplicity of red clover proteins in honey protein, as well as microbiota diversity and the influence of nature or plant diversity on the occurrence of microbiota in honey.

Bal, bal arıları (Apis mellifera) tarafından üretilen tatlı ve doğal bir gıdadır. Son derece besleyici, enerji verici ve terapötik özellikleri olan balın kalitesi ticari değerini de etkileyen botanik ve coğrafi kökenine bağlıdır. Diğer taraftan, bal taklit ve tağşiş yapılarak tüketicinin aldatılmasına uygun bir gıda maddesidir. Bu nedenlerle, ulusal ve uluslar arası gıda kodekslerinde balın kalitesini, botanik kaynağını ve saflığını belirlemek için çeşitli parametreler ve analiz yöntemleri tanımlanmıştır. Bu kapsamda tanımlanan parametrelerden olan balın fizikokimyasal özelliklerinin belirlenmesi hedeflenmiştir. Bu çalışmada; çeşitli yörelerdeki bal üreticilerinden temin edilen bir tanesi kestane balı olmak üzere toplam on iki adet çiçek balı numunesinin kalitesinin değerlendirilmesi, botanik kökeninin belirlenmesi ve Türk Gıda Kodeksi (TGK)’ne uygunluğununun değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bal numunelerinin nem, elektrik iletkenliği, indirgen ve indirgen olmayan şeker içeriği, ticari glikoz varlığı, hidroksi metil furfural (HMF) miktarı, diastaz aktivitesi, serbest asitlik, prolin miktarı ve suda çözünmeyen katı madde miktarı analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen verilere göre, toplam on iki çiçek balı örneğinden yedi tanesinin TGK’ye uygun bulunduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bal numunelerinin hiç birinde ticari glikoz varlığı tespit edilmemiştir. Numunelerin düşük HMF içeriği ve en az 9 olarak tespit edilen diastaz aktivitesi balların uygun depolama koşullarında tutulduğunun göstergesidir. Beklendiği gibi unifloral bir çiçek balı olan kestane balının elektrik iletkenliği ve fruktoz/glikoz oranı diğer multifloral çiçek ballarından farklı bulunmuştur. Son olarak, söz konusu fizikokimyasal özelliklerin coğrafi köken tespitinde kullanılma potansiyelleri değerlendirilmiş ve özellikle nem içeriğinin coğrafi köken tespitinde kullanılabileceği öngörülmüştür. Fizikokimyasal özelliklerin coğrafi köken tespitinde kullanılıp kullanılmayacağının değerlendirilmesi için çok sayıda numune ile çalışmak gerekliliği anlaşılmıştır.

Honey is a popular natural food product with a very complex composition comprising both organic and inorganic constituents. The composition of honey is strongly influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors, which vary based on its botanical and geographical origins. Libya is endowed with a variety of multifloral sources of honey. However, there is paucity of information on the chemical composition of honey for some of the regions. For this study, ten different types of honey samples were collected from Misurata markets in Libya.The present study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and quality of honey from different origins in Libya. Analysis of honey samples showed a wide variability, with samples from different honey sources being collected from different geographical origins. Citrus honey samples recorded the higher acidity and sidr honey samples recorded the lowest acidity, but all samples are still within the standard limit (pH 3.51 ± 0.08–4.95 ± 0.08). The electrical conductivity (EC) ranged from 0.21 ± 0.02 to 0.64 ± 0.07 ms/cm. The moisture content of honey samples ranged from 4.73 ± 0.72% to 7.7 ± 0.87%. Ash content ranged from 0.06 ± 0.003% to 0.26 ± 0.05%. Cypress honey showed the highest insoluble water solid content (0.087 ± 0.001 %) while the lowest value of insoluble water solid content was registered in thyme honey (0.021 ± 0.01 %). Samples of forest honey from the Shahat area showed the highest value of reducing sugars (82.76 ± 0.46 %), while sidr honey from the Misurata area showed the lowest value (48.5 ± 0.7%). The HMF and Sucrose contents of locally produced honeys ranged from 2.12±0.26 to 236.39± 5.56 mg kg- 1 and from 0.6 ± 0.81 to 1.70 ± 0.81, respectively. The results of this study showed that IR spectroscopy provides reliable results; furthermore, this research has provided the first insight into the infrared spectra of Libyan honeys. The quality of honey was found to vary based on the botanical origins, handling, transportation and storage conditions.

There are many studies dealing with the comparison of the quality and biological characteristics of honey of distinct geographical and botanical origins. However, there is scarce literary data on the physico-chemical and biological properties of different types of honey from the same production regions. Honey samples used in this study were from the following botanical origins: forest honey (honeydew), polyfloral honey and monofloral acacia honey. All samples were provided by a local beekeeper from Sumadija district (Central Serbia) and produced during the flowering season in 2018. Spectrophotometric determination of phenolic compounds in honey samples showed that the forest honey contained the highest total phenolics (806.10 mg GAE/kg) and flavonoids (146.27 mg QU/kg) contents, more than ten times higher than acacia honey (68.48 mg GAE/kg and 18.59 mg QU/kg, respectively). Antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH· and ABTS·+ assays. Forest honey showed better antioxidant activity than the other examined honey samples (594.77 mg Trolox/kg for ABTS assay and 260.77 mg Trolox/kg for DPPH assay). The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of honey samples against a panel of eleven bacterial and eight fungal species, along with yeast Candida albicans, showed that forest honey was the most effective in inhibition of their growth. These results suggest that forest honey has the best potential, among studied honey samples, for use in the human diet as food with valuable biological properties.

The research subject of this paper was a detail physicochemical analysis of 28 honey samples from the northern part of Montenegro. The honey from Montenegro has not been previously studied in such detail. Differentiation between samples, such as honeydew honey and polyfloral honey, was based on electrical conductivity, which was higher than 0.8 mS cm−1 for honeydew honey, as was expected. Other investigated physicochemical parameters (water content, free acids, diastase activity, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content and sugar content) have shown great similarity for all honey samples. The main interest of this study was the identification and quantification of phenolic compounds using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with mass spectrometry detection. The results show that honey samples are very rich in phenolic compounds, especially quercetin. Among the 31 quantified phenolic compounds, the most dominant were phenolic acids. The highlight was based on p-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid. Considering polyphenolic compounds and sugar content, a high nutritional value can be observed in all samples, with an emphasis on polyfloral honeys, as was confirmed with principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, all honey samples were tested for total phenolic content (TPC) and radical scavenging activity (RSA). The results indicate the higher antioxidant ability of honeys from Montenegro in comparison to some honey samples from other countries in the region.

Melissopalynological and chemical analysis of honey provide us useful and valuable information about the botanical and geographical origin of honey. The data in question is very important for authentication as well as for testing the quality of honey, so this is considered the main method in honey regulation here, we have used chemical analysis and melissopalynology to evaluate different honey samples from two main Iranian hubs of honey. Sampling was carried out on two important poles in Iran's honey production, the central Alborz region, and the mountainous Zagros ecosystems in the years 2020 to 2021. Therefore, 52 samples from Alborz (Northern Iran), as well as 42 samples from the Zagrosian ecosystems (western Iran) belonging to different ecological habitats, were collected. In addition, samples were taken at 7 altitudes from 0 to 3500 m a.s.l. Furthermore, in this study, various chemical analyses such as the effect of antioxidant activity, the amount of total phenolic content, pH, and moisture content of honey samples were evaluated. Our results showed that all honey samples were classified as polyfloral honey. Based on our findings, 57 honey samples (61%) contained the standard amount of pollen. A total of 42 plant families and 55 genera were identified in the studied samples, with the highest presence of Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Apocynaceae, and Apiaceae. Finally, an antioxidant activity ratio of 19% to 98%, total phenolic content from 0.08 to 0.51 ppm, pH from 1.90 to 5.21, and moisture content from 13% to 18.40%.

Application of next generation semiconductor based sequencing to detect the botanical composition of monofloral, polyfloral and honeydew honey

Physicochemical characteristics of honey from different origins

The aim of the study was to compare the quality of multifloral honeys in relation to origin (domestic vs. foreign), and storage time (before vs. after the date of minimum durability) available on the Polish retail market. The study was conducted on 24 samples of multifloral honey, including domestic ones (i.e. originated directly from beekeepers in open-air markets, or purchased in a retail chain), and foreign (i.e. from inside or outside the EU) bought in hypermarkets. In addition, the study comprised 5 samples of honey after the date of minimum durability. The content of hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), diastase number (DN) and colour according to CIE L*a*b* were determined in honeys. In the fresh multifloral honeys (irrespective of origin) the content of 5-HMF ranged from 1.17 to 18.54 mg*kg-1, and DN ranged from 8.36 to 34.88. Thus all samples met the legal requirements (5-HMF<40 mg*kg-1 and DN<8 on the Schade scale). Significant (P=0.01) deterioration in the quality of the honey was noted after the date of minimum durability. The mean HMF content (93.87 mg*kg-1) was twice as high as the acceptable value, and the mean DN (6.45) was lower than the accepted limit. Significant differences (P=0.01) were noted between mean values for all colour coordinates considering the date of minimum durability. The colour of the honey after the date of minimum durability was significantly darker and had lower saturation (L*=43.18 and C*=21.23) than the fresh honey (L*=62.11 and C*=32.66).

Honey quality and authenticity continue to be important factors in honey consumption and marketing. The major concern with honey quality is to keep its natural properties and compositions. This research work is aimed at investigating the botanical origin, physicochemical, antioxidant, rheological, and sensorial quality characteristics of comb, crushed, and processed honey. Accordingly, thirty samples were collected from Burie district of Ethiopia. Based on Melissopalynology, botanical origin was determined. Physicochemical properties were determined based on the standard methods of the International Honey Commission (IHC) and the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Antioxidant properties and diastase activity were determined using UV-visible spectroscopy. All the samples were poly floral honey. Comb honey was found to have moisture (17.98±0.72), sucrose (2.46±0.77), diastase activity (11.78±1.5 DN), total phenol content (TPC) (120.8±47.4 GAE/100gm), total flavonoid content (TFC) (53.7±24 CEQ/100g), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) inhibition (30.9±14.9%), IC50 (54±5.72 mg/ml), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging (57±16.06%). It was determined that crushed honey contains moisture (19.43±0.40), sucrose (4.21±0.76), diastase activity (9.28±0.25), TPC (84.3±51.86), TFC (29.4±61), DPPH inhibition (33.45±5.07), inhibitory concentration (IC50) (80±6.25), H2O2 scavenging (52.99±15.9). Analysis of processed honey indicated that moisture (23.76±0.78), sucrose (6.12±0.6), diastase activity (7.76±0.71), TPC (66.7±30.59), TFC (29.47±11.22), DPPH inhibition (33.98±1.84), IC50 (120±8.25), H2O2 scavenging (56.61±4.86). Correlation analysis indicated that moisture associate to sucrose content (r=0.88), diastase activity related to sucrose (r= -0.86), TPC correlates with H2O2 scavenging activity (r=0.82). Honey samples were found to be a Newtonian fluid. The sensory quality of comb honey is preferable. The result revealed that comb honey adequately satisfies the requirements of national and international standards.

Detection of honey adulteration – The potential of UV-VIS and NIR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis