On honey authentication and adulterant detection techniques

Abstract

Honey from different botanical and geographical origins differ significantly in their market value due to their quality, flavor or health benefits. However, the high value of honey and increasing demand have motivated fraudulent acts of honey. It is subjected to frequent adulteration by mislabeling, direct or indirect inclusion of cheaper sweeteners or low-quality honey. Honey authentication of geographical and botanical origin and adulteration detection is essential to protect consumers’ interests and honey market development. This work provides a comprehensive overview of various techniques including gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for both botanical authentication and adulteration detection from 2012 to 2020. We found that hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is more promising for large-scale applications in the honey production industry than other analysis methods, because it is non-invasive, simple to prepare samples, free of chemical agents, and can obtain spatial and spectral data from multiple samples simultaneously.