Polysaccharides as a Marker for Detection of Corn Sugar Syrup Addition in Honey

Abstract

Honey is a natural product of high quality. However, because of its limited production and of its relatively high price, some beekeepers or unscrupulous traders do not hesitate to modify and falsify this natural product in order to try to increase its market value. Then, these involved falsification practices, for example intentional addition of cheap sugar syrup to honeys, are sometimes difficult to detect. An effective and simple analytical method is proposed in order to detect adulteration in honey by analysis of polysaccharide profiles. Samples were previously treated with reversed-phase solid phase extraction first to remove monosaccharides and small oligosaccharides and second to concentrate simultaneously traces of polysaccharides. A chromatographic separation using anion exchange stationary phase and pulse amperometric detection was further performed. Polysaccharide fingerprints (degree of polymerization from 11 to 17) were shown to be present in laboratory doped samples, and not detectable or present at very low concentrations in the authentic honey samples. Application to acacia, mountain polyfloral and polyfloral honeys enabled readily the detection of fraud resulting from deliberate addition of 1% of corn syrup.

Rapid Screening of Multiclass Syrup Adulterants in Honey by Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

“…6,44 In our experiments, the detection of oligosaccharides (DP 7−11) in some honey samples was affected. On the other hand, Megherbiet al 5 Polysaccharides with DP 13−19 had the same behavior as polysaccharides with DP 12. Polysaccharides with DP 20−25 can be detected using this method with less sensitivity.…”

Identification, classification, and discrimination of agave syrups from natural sweeteners by infrared spectroscopy and HPAEC-PAD

“…Carbohydrate profiles analyses are a valuable tool for characterising and classifying honeys from different botanical (Nozal, Bernal, Toribio, Alamo, & Diego, 2005). Indeed, HPAEC-PAD can also be used to establish carbohydrate profiles for detecting the adulteration of honey with corn sugar (Megherbi, Herbrereau, Faure, & Salvador, 2009;Morales, Corzo, & Sanz, 2008). Carbohydrate profiles combined with fructose/glucose (F/G) or maltose/isomaltose ratios have been employed to evaluate the adulteration of honey with glucose, sugar cane, or high-fructose syrups (Guler, Bakan, Nisbet, & Yavuz, 2007;Ischayek & Kern, 2006;Nozal et al, 2005).…”

Comparison of Productivity of Colonies of Honey Bees,Apis mellifera, Supplemented with Sucrose or High Fructose Corn Syrup

“…Due to the ease of handling HFCS over mixing sucrose solutions and often cheaper pricing, the use of HFCS for bee feed increased (Herbert 1992). Because the sugar profile of HFCS is very similar to that of honey (Bogdanov et al 2008) and the use of HFCS in apiculture is so widespread, it is unfortunately sometimes used as a honey adulterant, so much so that there has been a significant amount of work for developing techniques to detect HFCS in honey (Abdel-Aal et al 1993; Megherbi et al 2009). Questions about the safety HFCS as bee food were raised soon after it became available, because beekeepers reported mixed results from feeding it (Bailey 1966; Johansson and Johansson 1976; Anon 1996; Sanford 1997).…”