Tasić A, Pezo L, Lončar B, Pešić MB, Tešić Ž, Kalaba M. Assessing the Impact of Botanical Origins, Harvest Years, and Geographical Variability on the Physicochemical Quality of Serbian Honey.
Foods 2024;
13:1530. [PMID:
38790830 PMCID:
PMC11121462 DOI:
10.3390/foods13101530]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2024] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
This study summarized the physicochemical analysis of 609 honey samples originating from the Republic of Serbia. Variations among honey samples from different botanical origins, regions of collections, and harvest years were exposed to descriptive statistics and correlation analysis that differentiated honey samples. Furthermore, most of the observed physicochemical parameters (glucose, fructose, sucrose content, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) levels, acidity, and electrical conductivity) varied significantly among different types of honey, years, and regions. At the same time, no noticeable difference was found in diastase activity, moisture content, and insoluble matter. Based on the obtained results, 22 honey samples could be considered adulterated, due to the irregular content of sucrose, 5-HMF, acidity, and diastase activity. In addition, 64 honey samples were suspected to be adulterated. Adulterated and non-compliant samples present a relatively low percentage (14.1%) of the total number of investigated samples. Consequently, a considerable number of honey samples met the required standards for honey quality. Overall, these findings provide insights into compositional and quality differences among various types of honey, aiding in understanding their characteristics and potential applications.
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