Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Faqs On Honey Testing Methods For Detecting Adulteration With Sugar Syrups
Faqs On Honey Testing Methods For Detecting Adulteration With Sugar Syrups
Ensuring honey authenticity is one of the great challenges facing the honey industry today. Over the past
half century, a number of honey testing methods have been developed to detect food fraud. To date, there is
no single universal analytical method available which is capable of detecting all types of adulteration with
adequate sensitivity. A variety of methods are used to detect honey adulteration, each test has strengths and
weaknesses; when used in combination these tests offer the most reliable predictor of honey’s purity from sugar
syrup adulteration .
1. 13
C Stable Carbon Isotope Ratio Method (SCIRA) or EA/IRMS.
Limit of C4 Syrup Detection 7%
Originally developed in the 1970’s and the only AOAC Official method – 998.12 C4 Plant Sugars in Honey.
This method can detect only corn or sugar cane derived syrups (C4 sugars), it cannot detect syrups made
from beets, rice, wheat or other plants (C3 sugars).
2. C Stable Carbon Isotope Ratio Method paired with a Liquid Chromatograph or EA/LC-IRMS.
13
FAQs on Honey Testing Methods for Detecting Adulteration with Sugar Syrups 1
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THESE TESTS?
NMR Profiling
NMR is short for nuclear magnetic resonance. NMR-spectroscopy has been used since the 1970s for
quantification and structural analysis and is becoming a reliable method to officially test the authenticity of
food (e.g. fruit juice, wine, edible oils, and honey).
• Research and Development for the application of NMR to honey began in the late 1990s, and was
introduced for routine analysis (honey profiling) in 2013.
• NMR compares the spectra of commercial honeys with a reference database of authentic honeys. At
present, there are several reference databases. The most well-known are owned and maintained by
Bruker and Eurofins.
• No harmonized and publicly available reference database exists for NMR at this time. (under discussion
at the EU Joint Research Centre)
• New additions to existing databases can result in changes to interpretations of spectra and the
determination of sample purity.
• Each NMR lab must use the same analytical procedure, instrumentation and reference database to
achieve identical results (e.g. the Bruker Honey Screener). If different NMR methodologies and databases
are used, cross-check benchmarking is necessary to achieve comparable result interpretations. Status
quo: >98% agreement between the main commercial databases (Bruker, Eurofins).
• Most applicable for verifying the authenticity of honeys that have known, singular botanical and
geographical origin; in the case of blends of different botanical and geographical origins, only the purity
of honey can be checked.
FAQs on Honey Testing Methods for Detecting Adulteration with Sugar Syrups 2
NMR Profiling (continued)
• Subjective “expert interpretation” is often utilized to conclude a sample is adulterated, even when the
honey is determined to be acceptable by comparison to the database alone.
• Not the most sensitive method for detection of honey dilution with syrups (LOD 10-15% in the best case
and as high as 40% with tailored syrups), but well suited to general screening for adulteration, botanical/
geographical origin verification and detection of illegal processing practices (e.g. resin technology).
• May give false positive results for unique honeys not yet included in the database (a false positive is the
finding that a pure honey appears adulterated according to the database).
• Once measured, data for each sample is retained and can be compared against future additions to the
syrup database without re-processing the original sample.
FAQs on Honey Testing Methods for Detecting Adulteration with Sugar Syrups 3
WHAT TEST IS BEST FOR
DETECTING HONEY ADULTERATION?
The current best recommendation is to apply all three methods in combination in order to leverage the
inherent strengths of each.
The National Honey Board is committed to supporting the development and refinement of all honey testing
methods as we work towards the common goal of eliminating food fraud in our industry. If you have any
additional questions, please email or call the National Honey Board.
FAQs on Honey Testing Methods for Detecting Adulteration with Sugar Syrups 4