Abstract
Honey is a functional, honeybee product with a useful role in human nutrition and several health benefits. Greece is a Mediterranean region with several types of monofloral honey. Today, Greek honey has acquired an important position in national and international markets. Due to this increased industrialization and globalization, quality control is a necessity. Mislabeling constitutes one of the most notable types of fraudulence, while most consumers are looking for authentic honey. Moreover, producers and suppliers are searching for rapid and analytical methodologies to secure Greek honey in a competitive environment. In this context, we aimed to describe the classical (melissopalynological, physicochemical) and analytical (chromatographic, spectrometric, and spectroscopic) methods for the standardization of the botanical origin of Greek honey.
Highlights
Introduction and Research FieldHoneybees are an important group of insect pollinators; while they produce various bee products, honey is the most well-known
We aimed to describe the classical and analytical methods for the standardization of the botanical origin of Greek honey
Melissopalynology is a microscopic analysis of honey and it is the basic method for determination of their botanical origin
Summary
Introduction and Research FieldHoneybees are an important group of insect pollinators; while they produce various bee products, honey is the most well-known. Honey constitutes the only sweetening product that can be stored and used exactly as produced in nature, a fact that makes it very important in terms of its authenticity. All types of honey are authentic and only human activity can affect them. The European council directive (2001/110/EC) [1] defines honey as, “the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera L. bees from the nectar of plants of from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature”. Composition criteria including physicochemical characteristics according to main types of origin (blossom or honeydew), production, and/or presentation (comb, chunk, drained, extracted, pressed, filtered, and baker’s honey).
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