Identifying the characteristics and the origin of honey with a simple analysis

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is able to analyze the chemical composition of honey which is strongly influenced by the production territory environment and the flora

by T N

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a spectroscopic technique with a very wide application field. NMR, frequently sided by other analytical techniques, is also used for the analysis of the quality and the genuineness of alimentary products. In the last years many scientific works used NMR for the analysis of alimentary matrixes such as fruit juices, wine, beer, coffee and olive oil.

The latter are typical examples of complex alimentary blends that are traditionally analyzed through different techniques that require specific pre-processing such as extraction, concentration and derivation. On the other hand, NMR allows the contemporary analysis of all the components, very reproducible results, the employment of small amounts of the blend (some mL are enough), very fast analyses (a couple of minutes) and the possibility to implement both qualitative and quantitative analyses.

In the ISMAC NMR laboratory of the CNR of Milan, the combined employment of NMR and multivariate statistical protocols allowed the characterization of many alimentary products. Among these, honey.

The honey is a widespread food all over the world, appreciated as a fast energy source and as a anti-bacteric and anti-oxidative food. On the market two main honey types are available: mono-flower and multi-flower. The first is obtained by just a single botanic origin, while the second is a blend of different origins. The specific composition and organoleptic characteristic of each honey depends on the kind of flowers the bees nourish of. Hence, the honey is strongly dependent on the peculiarity of the territory it derives from.

The honey is often object of alimentary adulterations and there are great differences in the price and in the quality among European honeys and Chinese or South American honeys and even among the different European countries. As a consequence, it is growing among producers and consumers the request of origin and quality guarantees.

The statistical analysis of NMR data regarding the metabolic content of all the analyzed honeys, allowed an easy classification of the products according to their botanic origin. In a second step, it was also possible, by analyzing homogeneous varieties, to distinguish the different geographical origins.
The NMR, coupled with multivariate analysis statistical protocols, demonstrated as a powerful tool for the botanic and geographic characterization of honeys. So, even honeys deriving from the same botanic species are endowed with differences in chemical composition that allow to distinguish the geographical region of origin. As a matter of fact, the metabolic content is a sort of hallmark of the past history and the geographic origin of the food.