Honey Adulteration Detection via Ultraviolet-Visible Spectral Investigation Coupled with Chemometric Analysis

Any change in the composition or physicochemical parameters of honey outside the standardized intervals may be deemed fraud, irrespective of direct introduction of certain substances or feeding honeybees with syrups. Simple and rapid tools along with more sophisticated ones are required to monitor fraudulent practices in the honey trade. In this work, UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to identify and quantify six Romanian honey types (five monofloral and one polyfloral) mixed with commercially available corn syrup, corn syrup with plant extracts, inverted syrup, and fruit syrup at different concentrations (5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%). Relevant spectral features were used to develop a neural model, which was able to pinpoint adulteration, regardless of the honey and adulterant type. The proposed model was able to detect adulteration levels higher than 10%, thereby serving as a cost-effective and reliable tool to monitor honey quality.