Authentication of Galician (N.W. Spain) honeys by multivariate techniques based on metal content data

Abstract

Authenticity is an important food quality criterion. Rapid methods for confirming authenticity and detecting adulteration are widely demanded by food producers, processors, consumers and regulatory bodies. The objective of this work was to develop a model that would confirm the authenticity of Galician-labelled honeys as Galician-produced honeys. Nine metals were determined in 42 honey samples which were divided into two categories: Galician and non-Galician honeys. Multivariate chemometric techniques such as cluster analysis, principal component analysis, Bayesian methodology, partial least-squares regression and neural networks were applied to modelling classes on the basis of the chemical data. The results obtained indicated good performance in terms of classification and prediction for both the neural networks and partial least-squares approaches. The metal profiles provided sufficient information to enable classification rules to be developed for identifying honeys according to their geographical origin.

Applications of Artificial Neural Networks in Chemical Problems

“…Some examples of application of ANNs in this area include vegetable oil studies [130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138], beers [139], wines [140], honeys [141][142] and water [143][144].…”

Pre-concentration of lithium prior to its determination in honey by flame optical emission spectrometry

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Because Li, like other alkaline or alkaline earth metals present in honey, is associated with soil characteristics and specificity, and agricultural practices, it certainly well reflects geographical origin and different locality conditions. [4][5][6] Accordingly, Li was recognized to be a useful feature accounting for successful discrimination between honeys from different regions, i.e., coastal and mountain territories, rural and urban areas.…”

“…For the same reason, Li was also found to be a good descriptor for classification between honeys of a stated origin and those originated from an industrial processing. 7,8 It appears however that Li is occasionally determined in honeys what proves a limited number of works reported so far and devoted to this metal. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) is commonly used for measuring concentrations of Li in honeys, typically along with other metals.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Flame optical emission spectrometry (FOES), although more inexpensive than ICP OES is curiously rarely used. [7][8][9][10] In case of both mentioned techniques, samples of honey are usually calcined, followed by dissolving resulted ash in solutions of mineral acids [3][4][5][6] or digested in concentrated oxidizing reagents 1,2 before measuring Li concentrations.…”

Chemical fingerprinting of the volatile fraction of species-specific floral Australian honeys

“…(Krauze and Zalewski, 1991;Crecente and Latorre, 1993;Zalewski, 1991/2;Sanz et al, 1995), minerals (Sauri Duch and Hernandez Chavez, 1994;Lopez et al, 1996;Latorre et al, 2000), and carbohydrates (Goodall et al, 1995) have all concentiated more on the geographical rather than botanical sourcing of honey.…”