A Review on Analytical Methods for Honey Classification, Identification and Authentication

Authentication of food products is of great concern in the context of food safety and quality. In recent years, interest in honey authenticity in relation with botanical or geographical origin and adulteration has increased. Honey is a ready-to-eat natural food with high nutritional content and gives many health benefits. Authentication of honey has primary importance for both industries and consumers in combatting common honey frauds in the form of mislabeling of honey origin and adulteration with sugar or syrups. Various analytical methods are used for detecting original honey. With a diverse range of equipment and techniques, the conventional analytical methods are still being used in association with advanced techniques as they are part of preliminary screening, processing and product standards. Most of the analytical methods provide indications of pollen distribution, physicochemical parameters and profile analysis of phenolic, flavonoid, carbohydrate, amino acids, aroma and individual marker components. This review provides an overview and summary of instrumental and analytical methods available for honey authentication from conventional to recent molecular techniques. It is useful as a guide to choosing appropriate method for analysis, classification and authentication of honey

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for rapid analysis of ash, potassium and magnesium in gluten free flours

Gluten free (GF) diets are prone to mineral deficiency, thus effective monitoring of the elemental composition of GF products is important to ensure a balanced micronutrient diet. The objective of this study was to test the potential of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis combined with chemometrics for at-line monitoring of ash, potassium and magnesium content of GF flours: tapioca, potato, maize, buckwheat, brown rice and a GF flour mixture. Concentrations of ash, potassium and magnesium were determined with reference methods and LIBS. PCA analysis was performed and presented the potential for discrimination of the six GF flours. For the quantification analysis PLSR models were developed; R2cal were 0.99 for magnesium and potassium and 0.97 for ash. The study revealed that LIBS combined with chemometrics is a convenient method to quantify concentrations of ash, potassium and magnesium and present the potential to classify different types of flours

Trends in application of NIR and hyperspectral imaging for food authentication

Food fraud can cause damage to consumer health and affect their confidence, destroy brands and generate large economic losses in the industry. Food authenticity allows to identify if food composition, geographical origin, genetic variety and farming system corresponds to what has been declared on the label. Although there are currently standardized methods to identify certain adulterants, the complexity of the food, the complexity of the supply chain and the appearance of new adulterants require the continuous development of analytical techniques to detect food fraud. NIR and Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) in tandem with chemometrics are non-destructive, non-invasive and accurate techniques for food authentication. This review focuses on NIR and HIS approaches to food authentication, including adulteration by substitution, geographical origin and farming system. In this context, the advances in NIR and HSI approaches reported since 2014 are discussed regarding their potential use in food authentication. Both techniques have shown to have efficiency, precision and selectivity to detect adulterants and identify geographic origin, genetic variety and farming system. Portability and remote access are shown as the next step for the industrialization of NIR and HSI devices

Detection and quantification of paprika powder adulteration by near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy

Orientador: Douglas Fernandes BarbinDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de AlimentosResumo: A páprica é uma das especiarias mais consumidas no mundo, e devido aos seus atributos sensoriais desejáveis, ela apresenta um alto valor de mercado. Embora especiarias como o pó de páprica sejam usadas e consumidas apenas em pequenas quantidades, elas estão presentes em muitos alimentos processados. Em razão disso, ela se torna susceptível a adulteração por motivação econômica. Por esse motivo, muitos esforços têm sido feitos no desenvolvimento de técnicas analíticas para detecção dessas práticas fraudulentas. No entanto, muitas dessas técnicas tradicionais são destrutivas, utilizam reagentes químicos e seu uso é dispendioso e demorado. Por outro lado, técnicas de espectroscopia vibracional, aliadas a quimiometria, surgem como uma alternativa promissora na detecção de adulteração na indústria de ervas e especiarias. O uso dessas técnicas traz como vantagens a rapidez e a natureza não-destrutiva das análises. Dessa forma, a espectroscopia de infravermelho próximo (NIR) tem sido utilizada com êxito, na verificação da autenticidade e no controle de qualidade desses produtos. Diante disso, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar as potencialidades da espectroscopia NIR, em conjunto com a análise multivariada, na detecção e quantificação de substâncias estranhas (fécula de batata, goma arábica e urucum), em páprica em pó. Na determinação dos níveis de adulteração, foi utilizada a regressão por mínimos quadrados parciais (PLSR). Melhores resultados da calibração PLSR foram obtidos com um número reduzido de variáveis, aplicando o método de seleção de variáveis a partir do gráfico dos coeficientes de regressão. Como resultado, para os modelos PLSR reduzidos construídos a partir dos dados espectrais de NIR, os coeficientes de determinação de predição (R2p) foram 0,960, 0,968 e 0,874 para fécula de batata, goma arábica e urucum, respectivamente e os erros quadráticos médios de predição (RMSEP) foram 1,86, 1,68 e 1,74, respectivamente. Finalmente, a análise discriminante de mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS-DA) foi o método utilizado para estabelecer um modelo de classificação para discriminar amostras de páprica adulteradas e não adulteradas e também identificar o tipo de adulteração. Assim, este método de classificação mostrou-se bastante eficiente, com especificidade maior que 90% e taxa de erro menor que 2%, para todos os modelos construídos. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo mostraram que a espectroscopia NIR, combinada com a quimiometria podem ser uteis para a rápida detecção e/ou quantificação da adulteração em páprica em póAbstract: Paprika is one of the most consumed spices in the world, and because of its desirable sensory attributes, it has a high market value. Although spices such as paprika powder are used and consumed only in small amounts, they are present in many processed foods. Because of this, it becomes susceptible to adulteration by economic motivation. For this reason, much effort has been expended in developing analytical techniques to detect such fraudulent practices. However, many of these traditional techniques are destructive, use chemical reagents and their use is expensive and time consuming. On the other hand, techniques of vibrational spectroscopy, combined with chemometrics, appear as a promising alternative in the detection of adulteration in the herb and spice industry. The use of these techniques brings as advantages the speed and the non-destructive nature of the analyses. Thus, near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has been successfully used to verify the authenticity and quality control of these products. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of NIR spectroscopy, in conjunction with the multivariate analysis, in the detection and quantification of foreign substances (potato starch, acacia gum and annatto) in powdered paprika. In the determination of adulteration levels, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used. The best results of the PLSR calibration were obtained with a reduced number of variables, applying the method of selection of variables from the graph of the regression coefficients. As a result, for the reduced PLSR models built with NIR spectral data, the prediction determination coefficients (R2p) were 0.960, 0.968 and 0.874 for potato starch, acacia gum and annatto, respectively, and the mean squared errors of prediction (RMSEP) were 1.86, 1.68 and 1.74, respectively. Finally, the discriminant analysis of partial least squares (PLS-DA) was the method used to establish a classification model to discriminate adulterated and unadulterated paprika samples and also to identify the type of adulteration. Hence, this method of classification proved to be efficient, with specificity greater than 90% and error rate lower than 2%, for all models constructed. The results obtained in this study showed that NIR spectroscopy, combined with chemometrics may be useful for the rapid detection and / or quantification of paprika powder adulterationMestradoEngenharia de AlimentosMestre em Engenharia de AlimentosCAPE

Authenticity of Honey: Characterization, Bioactivities and Sensorial Properties

Honey is a very complex food that requires multiple analytical, statistical and mathematical methods to guarantee honey authentication. This Special Issue contains innovative research on different analytical procedures for the determination of chemical compounds, functional properties, sensory characteristics and pollen profiles for the interpretation of the botanical and geographical origin of honey. This book compiles twelve original studies that address these issues and improve the knowledge of honeys of multiple botanical and geographical origins

Determination of honey authenticity and adulteration by anion exchange chromatography

Cieľom tejto diplomovej práce je stanoviť kvalitu a zloženie medu, taktiež stanoviť jeho botanický pôvod na základe profilu sacharidov v mede. Med je prírodný produkt vysokej kvality a vďaka značnej spotrebe a nemalej trhovej hodnote je tiež terčom na falšovanie. S cieľom identifikovať podvody a cudzorodé látky, pochádzajúce z cukrových sirupov, boli analyzované oligosacharidy a polysacharidy na báze maltodextrínov. Teoretická časť popisuje chemické zloženie medu a hlavné princípy aplikovanej inštrumentálnej techniky. Poskytuje literárny prehľad existujúcich analytických metód na stanovenie sacharidov prítomných v mede a na odhalenie jeho falšovania. Boli definované hlavné body falšovania a autenticity, vrátane legislatívnych aspektov a opisu bežných druhov falšovania. Experimentálna časť obsahuje postupy, ktoré vedú k vývoju a optimalizácii chromatografických podmienok a parametrov elektrochemického detektora na stanovenie sacharidov a maltodextrínov (oligosacharidov a polysacharidov) vo vzorkách medu. Použitá analytická technika bola vysoko účinná aniónovo-výmenná chromatografia (HPAEC) spojená s pulzným amperometrickým detektorom (PAD). Vyvinutá a optimalizovaná chromatografická metóda bola taktiež validovaná z hľadiska linearity, dynamického rozsahu, analytických limitov, presnosti a správnosti. Na záver bola táto vypracovaná metóda úspešne zhodnotená analýzou autentických a falšovaných vzoriek medu rôzneho botanického pôvodu pochádzajúcich z členských štátov EÚ.The purpose of this thesis is to determine the quality and composition of honey for the investigation of its botanical origin by analyzing a broad carbohydrate profile in honey. Honey is a natural product of high quality and due to its high consumption and market value it is also prone to adulteration. In order to facilitate the identification of fraud in honey and identify adulterants originating from sugar syrups, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides based on maltodextrins were analyzed. The theoretical part describes the chemical composition of honey and the main principles of the applied instrumental technique. It provides a literature overview of existing analytical methods for the determination of carbohydrates present in honey as well as for the detection of adulteration. The main characteristics of adulteration and authenticity are defined, including the legislative aspects and description of common type of adulterants. The experimental part includes the different steps followed in order to develop and optimize the chromatographic conditions and parameters of the electrochemical detector for the determination of carbohydrates and maltodextrins (oligosaccharides and polysaccharides) in honey samples. The analytical technique applied was high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) coupled with pulsed amperometric detection (PAD). The analytical methods were validated in terms of linearity, dynamic range, analytical limits, precision and trueness. The applicability of the analytical methods was successfully evaluated by the analysis of authentic and adulterated honey samples of different botanical origin collected by EU Member-States.