Research grant: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0583
Financed by Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI
Title: Non-destructive methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection
Duration: 15/09/2020 – 14/09/2022
Budget: 431 900 RON
Project manager: Prof. dr. eng. Mircea OROIAN
Faculty of Food Engineering, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania
Project manager: Prof. dr. eng. Mircea OROIAN
Post-doctoral researchers: Lecturer dr. eng. Sorina ROPCIUC
PhD Students: Eng. Florina DRANCA
Eng. Daniela PAULIUC
The project entitled Non-destructive methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection propose the development of some non-destructive methods for the authentication of different honey types from Romania (acacia, tilia, sunflower, rape, mint, thyme and raspberry) and adulteration detection with different syrups (inverted sugar – the main adulteration agent for honey in Romania, rice and corn syrup – the main adulteration agents in Asia and maple and agave syrup – the main adulteration agents in South and North America).
The authentication of honey and its adulteration presents three different points of view: public health (adulterated honey may contain ingredients that are not allowed because of their toxic or allergenic potential), legal (European Union legislation forbid the addition of any compound in honey (CE 2001/110/EC)) and economic (unfair competition involving the industry, retailers, beekeepers and consumers, e.g. selling of polyfloral honeys as monofloral honeys, or selling low cost monofloral honeys as high cost monofloral honeys, or flavoured inverted sugar as honey).
Current methods used for the authentication/adulteration are focused on destructive methods (e.g. determination of mineral profile, of aroma compounds, phenolics, sugars, aminoacids, pollen analysis, electrochemical methods etc.) which involve a lot of time for sample preparing and are using many solvents, some of them with an environment impact. The methods proposed are: FT-IR spectroscopy, dynamic rheology at negative temperatures, differential scanning calorimety, fluorescence spectroscopy and dielectric properties. The methods proposed reduce the time of analysis and are eco-friendly.
The project aims to investigate the possibility of the Romanian honey authentication (acacia, tilia, sunflower, rape, mint, savory and raspberry) and adulteration detection (with inverted sugar, rice syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup and agave syrup) using non-destructive methods such as FT-IR-ATR spectroscopy, dynamic rheology at negative temperatures, differential scanning calorimety, fluorescence spectroscopy, and dielectric properties. The adulteration agents for this proposal were chosen as: inverted sugar – the main adulteration agent for honey in Romania, rice and corn syrup – the main adulteration agents in Asia and maple and agave syrup – the main adulteration agents in North and South America.
The specific objectives of the proposed project are:
(O1) Development of methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection using FT-IR
(O2) Development of methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection using dynamic rheology at negative temperatures
(O3) Development of methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection using fluorescence spectroscopy
(O4) Development of methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection using differential scanning calorimety
(O5) Development of methods for honey authentication and adulteration detection using dielectric properties
A. Articles
A.1. ISI articles
A.2. BDI articles
B. Conferences