Mass Spectrometry-Based Strategies for the Authentication of Honey and Beehive Products

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2024 | Viewed by 2218

Special Issue Editors

Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy
Interests: honey analytics; mass spectrometry; liquid-chromatography; gas-chromatography; chemometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Granada, Avda Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
Interests: bioactive compounds; phenolic compounds; green extraction techniques; microencapsulation; mass spectrometry; metabolomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, attention to the problem of honey's authenticity has considerably grown. The various types of fraud involving honey, including, among others, adulteration with exogenous substances and the mislabelling of botanical and geographical origin, jeopardise the work of small producers who are unable to compete with the presence of cheap and poor-quality honey on the market. This aspect is not only economically damaging to the supply chain but also entails a disincentive to the practice of beekeeping, which is the basis of the presence of bees in ecosystems. Recently, a coordinated action led by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) with the national authorities of 18 countries, OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), revealed the involvement of numerous producers in fraudulent practices.

Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical tool for the authentication of honey. The aim of this Special Issue is to gather high-profile scientific contributions on the use of mass spectrometry-based strategies to correlate the chemical composition of honey and other beehive products with their authenticity. Special attention will be paid to studies that identify markers of new botanical origins, the georeferencing of samples and the analysis of traditional and novel quality parameters.

Dr. Marco Ciulu
Dr. Isabel Borrás-Linares
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • honey
  • propolis
  • royal jelly
  • beehive products
  • mass-spectrometry
  • LC-MS
  • GC-MS
  • ICP-MS
  • honey adulteration
  • honey counterfeit

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1718 KiB  
Article
Elemental Fingerprinting Combined with Machine Learning Techniques as a Powerful Tool for Geographical Discrimination of Honeys from Nearby Regions
by Andrea Mara, Matteo Migliorini, Marco Ciulu, Roberto Chignola, Carla Egido, Oscar Núñez, Sònia Sentellas, Javier Saurina, Marco Caredda, Mario A. Deroma, Sara Deidda, Ilaria Langasco, Maria I. Pilo, Nadia Spano and Gavino Sanna
Foods 2024, 13(2), 243; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13020243 - 12 Jan 2024
Viewed by 943
Abstract
Discrimination of honey based on geographical origin is a common fraudulent practice and is one of the most investigated topics in honey authentication. This research aims to discriminate honeys according to their geographical origin by combining elemental fingerprinting with machine-learning techniques. In particular, [...] Read more.
Discrimination of honey based on geographical origin is a common fraudulent practice and is one of the most investigated topics in honey authentication. This research aims to discriminate honeys according to their geographical origin by combining elemental fingerprinting with machine-learning techniques. In particular, the main objective of this study is to distinguish the origin of unifloral and multifloral honeys produced in neighboring regions, such as Sardinia (Italy) and Spain. The elemental compositions of 247 honeys were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The origins of honey were differentiated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Random Forest (RF). Compared to LDA, RF demonstrated greater stability and better classification performance. The best classification was based on geographical origin, achieving 90% accuracy using Na, Mg, Mn, Sr, Zn, Ce, Nd, Eu, and Tb as predictors. Full article
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19 pages, 1256 KiB  
Review
Geographical Origin Authentication—A Mandatory Step in the Efficient Involvement of Honey in Medical Treatment
by Tudor Mihai Magdas, Maria David, Ariana Raluca Hategan, Gabriela Adriana Filip and Dana Alina Magdas
Foods 2024, 13(4), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13040532 - 09 Feb 2024
Viewed by 860
Abstract
Nowadays, in people’s perceptions, the return to roots in all aspects of life is an increasing temptation. This tendency has also been observed in the medical field, despite the availability of high-level medical services with many years of research, expertise, and trials. Equilibrium [...] Read more.
Nowadays, in people’s perceptions, the return to roots in all aspects of life is an increasing temptation. This tendency has also been observed in the medical field, despite the availability of high-level medical services with many years of research, expertise, and trials. Equilibrium is found in the combination of the two tendencies through the inclusion of the scientific experience with the advantages and benefits provided by nature. It is well accepted that the nutritional and medicinal properties of honey are closely related to the botanical origin of the plants at the base of honey production. Despite this, people perceive honey as a natural and subsequently a simple product from a chemical point of view. In reality, honey is a very complex matrix containing more than 200 compounds having a high degree of compositional variability as function of its origin. Therefore, when discussing the nutritional and medicinal properties of honey, the importance of the geographical origin and its link to the honey’s composition, due to potential emerging contaminants such as Rare Earth Elements (REEs), should also be considered. This work offers a critical view on the use of honey as a natural superfood, in a direct relationship with its botanical and geographical origin. Full article
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