Abstract
Honey adulteration, where a range of sugar syrups is used to increase bulk volume, is a common problem that has significant negative impacts on the honey industry, both economically and from a consumer confidence perspective. This paper investigates High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) for the authentication and detection of sugar adulterants in honey. The sugar composition of various Australian honeys (Manuka, Jarrah, Marri, Karri, Peppermint and White Gum) was first determined to illustrate the variance depending on the floral origin. Two of the honeys (Manuka and Jarrah) were then artificially adulterated with six different sugar syrups (rice, corn, golden, treacle, glucose and maple syrup). The findings demonstrate that HPTLC sugar profiles, in combination with organic extract profiles, can easily detect the sugar adulterants. As major sugars found in honey, the quantification of fructose and glucose, and their concentration ratio can be used to authenticate the honeys. Quantifications of sucrose and maltose can be used to identify the type of syrup adulterant, in particular when used in combination with HPTLC fingerprinting of the organic honey extracts.
Highlights
Honey has been regarded as nutritious food since ancient times [1,2], and it has enjoyed increasing recognition for its bioactivities and potential medicinal applications
We demonstrate the usefulness of a High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC)-based method for the detection of sugar-based honey adulterants
Glucose presented as a green band with an Rf value of 0.32, fructose presented as an orange band with an Rf value of 0.14, sucrose presented as a dark brown band with an Rf value of 0.27, and maltose presented as a grey band with an Rf value of 0.20
Summary
Honey has been regarded as nutritious food since ancient times [1,2], and it has enjoyed increasing recognition for its bioactivities and potential medicinal applications. Monofloral honeys, in particular, have attracted good sale prices due to perceived higher bioactivity levels, which led to these honeys being the subject of increasingly common adulterations [3,4,5]. Syrups obtained from starch following enzymatic or acid treatment are used [10,11,12,13]. The detection of these sugar-based adulterations is challenging, as honey is itself a highly concentrated sugar solution, with sugars accounting for about 80–85% of the total solids in most honeys
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