Abstract
Objective: to analyze physicochemical, microbiological and dirt parameters in marketed honeys, consumed by the elderly cared for at Integrated Health Center in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. Method: the following analyses were performed: color, water activity, humidity, ash, pH, acidity, reducing sugars, total sugars, apparent sucrose and insoluble solids. Contamination indicator bacteria, mesophilic microorganisms, filamentous fungi and yeasts, as well as dirt and foreign matter, performed in the period from April to June 2016. Results: analyses of ash, pH, acidity and insoluble solids were outside current standards. Microbiological analyses did not present significant contamination. Also, analyses of dirt showed insect fragments, foreign matter in almost all the samples. Conclusion: parameters of ash, pH, acidity and insoluble solids, as well as dirt and foreign matter, indicated that the samples were not in accordance with current legislation.
Highlights
According to ordinance No 9,013, from March 29, 2017, “honey is an alimentary product made by melliferous bees from flower nectar or secretions coming from living parts of plants or from excretions of plant-sucking insects that stay on living parts of plants that bees collect, transform, combine with own specific substances, store and let mature in honeycombs”.1Studies demonstrated that honey detains some functional and therapeutic applications, such as: curative, cicatrizing,[2] rehydrating, antiinflammatory, energetic,[3] anticancer[4] and antibacterial[5] effect
The calculus of sample size was based on the number of elderly attendances provided in IHC geriatrics sector, in which 11 elderly people are cared for per week
The water activity (Aw) had 0.41 mean with a 0.24 to 0.48 variation (Table 1). It is a parameter not established by legislation, this variable is used to predict the microbial development as well as evaluate chemical reactions and shelf life of food
Summary
According to ordinance No 9,013, from March 29, 2017, “honey is an alimentary product made by melliferous bees from flower nectar or secretions coming from living parts of plants or from excretions of plant-sucking insects that stay on living parts of plants that bees collect, transform, combine with own specific substances, store and let mature in honeycombs”.1Studies demonstrated that honey detains some functional and therapeutic applications, such as: curative, cicatrizing,[2] rehydrating, antiinflammatory, energetic,[3] anticancer[4] and antibacterial[5] effect. The Brazilian legislation declares that to honey, sugars and other elements that alter its original composition cannot be added.[8] the increase in product demand has led to adulteration problems, as addition of sucrose, such as corn syrups and inverted syrups. These habits generate an increase in studies for methods of detection in honey adulterations and quality control.[9]
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