Monitoring the quality of honey: South African case study

The popularity of honey as a high-valued commodity is growing and consequently, honey adulteration is on the rise affecting the honey quality. The quality of the honey on the South African market was evaluated using the Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 as assessment tool. Various physico-chemical characteristics were tested which indicated compliance of >80% for all honey samples. A canonical variate analysis using 95% confidence regions indicates significant differences between the quality of local and imported honey with total acid, sucrose and ash as the parameters mostly distinguishing between the groups. Honey produced from agricultural crops differed significantly from all other forage types. The parameters that mostly distinguished between forage types were Lund, hydroxy-methyl-furfural and ash content. Even though honey sold on the South African market is generally in accordance with national and international standards, an overall declining trend in quality was observed and it should be continuously monitored.