Analysis of Multifloral Bee Pollen Pellets by Advanced Digital Imaging Applied to Functional Food Ingredients

Abstract

Bee pollen is a hive product, resulting from floral pollen agglutination by worker bees and it is characterized by its excellent bioactive and nutritional composition. Currently, research is focused on bee pollen applications on food industry, because this product has been considered an excellent source of compounds for human nutrition. It is also important in some industries, where color and particle size are important characteristics for production. Due to the granular nature of bee pollen, conventional colorimetry does not allow describing color correctly; thus, digital image analysis is a better alternative. This technique could also allow classifying bee pollen according to its appearance beyond the color. Consequently, the aim of this work was to develop a novel methodology for image data processing to classify bee pollen as ingredient in food industry. Seven color groups in samples were established regarding harvest month and particle size.It was possible to calculate the percentage of each color group in all samples. This methodology also allowed selecting each fraction for different applications in food industry using colorimetry, granulometry and the 2 relationship between both of them.

Morphological, Physicochemical and FTIR Spectroscopic Properties of Bee Pollen Loads from Different Botanical Origin

“…The a* (red-green) parameter of the pollen loads varied from –1.9 ( Papaver rhoeas L. PA-PA1) to 22.3 ( Helianthus annuus L. AS-HE2) and the b* (yellow-blue) one from 12.0 ( Coriandrum sativum L. UM-CO5) to 69.4 ( Helianthus annuus L. AS-HE2). The b* and a* values were in a similar range as those reported by other authors [10]. The a* (red-green) and b* (yellow-blue) parameters of the pollen loads may be interpreted as a reliable index of the richness in pigments with antioxidant activity [8] and of a different minerals’ concentration that is related to the botanical origin [11].…”

Classification of Bee Pollen and Prediction of Sensory and Colorimetric Attributes—A Sensometric Fusion Approach by e-Nose, e-Tongue and NIR

“…The b* of the sample mainly from spiny plumeless thistle was close to zero, but sunflower and rapeseed pollen had highly saturated colours. It can be assumed that the dominance of red and yellow was due to the presence of carotenoid and flavonoid compounds [50]. Based on the calculated value of chroma, the most vivid sample was sunflower pollen, followed by rapeseed, lakeshore bulrush, red clover, and spiny plumeless thistle.…”

“…To date, only a few studies have been published on the topic of bee pollen classification by integrated methods. Salazar-González et al [50] developed a methodology to classify pollen loads of different origins based on their harvest month, colorimetric properties, and particle size. Thakur and Nada [51] performed a PCA using four monofloral and one polyfloral bee pollen samples to assure that the physical, functional, and textural properties could be used to visualize differential patterns of samples as per their botanical origin.…”

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in bee pollen identified by LC-MS/MS analysis and colour parameters using multivariate class modeling

“…Bee pollen is a natural product and has nutritional and therapeutic properties. Thus, its consumption as a food supplement has recently increased, along with its application in the food industry, where colour and particle size are important characteristics for production (Costa et al, 2017;Salazar-Gonz alez et al, 2018). However size, shape, colour and composition of bee pollen vary depending on factors like the botanical sources visited by the honeybees, geographic origin and the season of harvest (Denisow and Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016;Kieliszek et al, 2018;Salazar-Gonz alez et al, 2018).…”

“…Thus, its consumption as a food supplement has recently increased, along with its application in the food industry, where colour and particle size are important characteristics for production (Costa et al, 2017;Salazar-Gonz alez et al, 2018). However size, shape, colour and composition of bee pollen vary depending on factors like the botanical sources visited by the honeybees, geographic origin and the season of harvest (Denisow and Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016;Kieliszek et al, 2018;Salazar-Gonz alez et al, 2018). Pollen grains can have different colours, including yellow, grey-white, orange, reddish, greenish or blue, that indicate the variety of plant species from which the pollen was collected (Kieliszek et al, 2018).…”