Abstract
Honey is one of the most valuable sweeteners consumed by humans all over the world. Consequently, it is often a target for adulteration through the addition of different sugar syrups during or after honey production, resulting in a reduction in its nutritive value. For the first time, this study analyzes honey samples of various botanical species collected from different Lebanese regions using element analyzer (EA) and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). The δ13C of bulk honey, its protein fraction, and the main individual sugars (glucose, fructose, disaccharides, and trisaccharide) were determined, in order to characterize and evaluate the authenticity of honey consumed in Lebanon. The results showed that the δ13C values for bulk honey and its protein range from −26.5‰ to −24.5‰ and from −26.4‰ to −24.7‰, respectively, for authentic samples. δ13C values for samples adulterated with sugar syrups range from −11.2‰ to −25.1‰ for bulk honey and from −26.6‰ to −23.7‰ for its proteins, with a difference between bulk and protein values between −1 and −8.7‰. Using LC‐C‐IRMS techniques, the δ13C of individual sugars provides additional information on the presence of undeclared sugars. We found that all authentic samples had Δδ13Cf‐g and Δδ13C max values within the naturally occurring range of ±1‰ and ±2.1‰, respectively, while the adulterated samples fall outside the Δδ13C ranges. The oligosaccharide peak was detected in most adulterated samples.
Highlights
Honey is a natural complex product produced by Apis mellifera bees from nectar of plants, as well as from honey dew.[1,2] It is mainly composed of high amount of sugars and small amounts of various constituents such as mineral salts, proteins, organic acids, enzymes, vitamins, pigments, phenolics, flavonoids, and volatile compounds.[3]
To assess the method performance for the determination of the carbon stable isotope ratio in honey and its protein fraction by element analyzer (EA)-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) as well as its individual sugars by liquid chromatography (LC)-IRMS, a quality control pure honey sample was analyzed on different days within 4 months
These values are lower to those indicated in AOAC official method 998.12.17 The standard deviation of intra-laboratory reproducibility (SDR) obtained for glucose, fructose and disaccharide were within the same range as described by Elflein and Raezke[19] and Cabañero et al.[22] and by the results of an interlaboratory comparison recently published by the Joint research council (European commission)[30] (SDR < 0.3‰)
Summary
Honey is a natural complex product produced by Apis mellifera bees from nectar of plants, as well as from honey dew.[1,2] It is mainly composed of high amount of sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) and small amounts of various constituents such as mineral salts, proteins, organic acids, enzymes, vitamins, pigments, phenolics, flavonoids, and volatile compounds.[3]. The results showed that the δ13C values for bulk honey and its protein range from À26.5‰ to À24.5‰ and from À26.4‰ to À24.7‰, respectively, for authentic samples.
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