Detection of beeswax adulterations using concentration guide‐values

Abstract

The concentrations of 102 chemical compounds (saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, palmitates, total and free acids, total hydroxyacids, total and free alcohols, acidic monoesters and monoesterified 1,2,3-propanetriols) have been determined by GC/FID on white and yellow comb beeswax of Apis mellifera from different regions of Spain. Guide-value ranges are proposed for its characterization and to discriminate adulterated foundation beeswax sheets. The concentrations of many compounds resulted to be statistically different for white and yellow beeswaxes, while the observation of concentrations out of normal in some marketed foundation beeswax sheets suggested their adulteration. However, the measurement of anomalous concentrations in foundation beeswax sheets did not imply necessarily their rejection by the bees.

Determination of Beeswax Hydrocarbons by Gas Chromatography with a Mass Detector (GC -MS ) Technique

“…The results obtained here of the qualitative analysis of the unsaturated hydrocarbons are similar to those of Jimenez et al (2004Jimenez et al ( , 2007. Differences concern the amount of identified isomers and result from different limits of detection, as with the qualitative analysis of the saturated hydrocarbons.…”

“…The total alkanes in wax originating from A. mellifera calculated in this way were slightly higher than the maximum content of all alkanes calculated in the current work. The percentage share of individual alkanes reported by Jimenez et al (2004Jimenez et al ( , 2006Jimenez et al ( , 2007 and Serra Bonvehi and Ornantes Bermejo (2012) is also hard to compare with the results of our studies because of different calculation methods (these were not the typical quantitative analyses with the usage of standards) as well as different analytical methods. Jimenez et al (2004) determined the content of individual compounds according to the intensity of peaks obtained with the GC-MS method.…”

“…Using the elaborated GC-MS method resulted in the identification of saturated hydrocarbons (n-alkanes) and also alkenes and dienes. Other authors have reported the presence of these unsaturated hydrocarbons in beeswax (Streibl et al, 1966;Serra Bonvehi, 1988;Giumanini et al, 1995;Lorbeer, 1999, 2000;Jimenez et al, 2004Jimenez et al, , 2007Serra Bonvehi and Ornantes Bermejo, 2012). Streibl et al (1966) observed that the highest share, similar to the alkanes, had alkenes with odd numbers of carbon atoms in their molecules (especially C 31 H 62 and C 33 H 66 ).…”

“…Differences concern the amount of identified isomers and result from different limits of detection, as with the qualitative analysis of the saturated hydrocarbons. Jimenez et al (2004Jimenez et al ( , 2007 In the present studies, the quantitative analysis of n-alkanes of beeswax using the internal standard method was also performed. Our results of the n-alkane content in the beeswax are hard to compare with published data, though.…”

“…This method was used for the first time for the analysis of beeswax hydrocarbons by White et al (1960) and Downing et al (1961). Gas chromatography with different kinds of detection (FID, MS) is now commonly used in studies of beeswax composition (Aichholz and Lorbeer, 1996, 1999, 2000Jimenez et al, 2003Jimenez et al, , 2004Jimenez et al, , 2006Jimenez et al, , 2007Jimenez et al, , 2009Serra Bonvehi and Ornantes Bermejo, 2012;Maia and Nunes, 2013), and the majority of compounds belonging to certain homologous series have been characterized. However, some beeswax constituents remain unknown despite the use of the most recent chromatography techniques.…”