Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXIV, Issue 2
Written by Paula CIURSA, Mircea OROIAN
The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of corn and inverted sugar syrups adulteration on physicochemical parameters of acacia honey. The adulteration of the acacia honey samples analyzed was done by the addition of concentrated corn syrup. For this purpose, acacia honey was adulterated with different percentages (5%, 10%, 20% and 50%) of corn syrup and inverted sugar. The color, pH, free acidity, electrical conductivity, moisture content, hydroxymethylfurfural content, as well as the sugar content (fructose, glucose, sucrose, turanose, maltose, trehalose, melesitose, and raffinose) were chosen as parameters for evaluating the influence of adulteration agents in honey. The moisture content of the honey samples were below the maximum level established by Codex Alimentarius (≤ 20%). The hidroxymethylfurfural content increased considerably from 18.97 in authentic honey to 337.31 mg/kg honey adulterated with 50% inverted sugar syrup, while a decrease occurred from 18.97 to 10.89 mg/kg honey adulterated with 50% corn syrup. Electrical conductivity decreased from 122.26 μS/cm to 107.08 μS/cm and from 122.26 μS/cm to 69.34 μS/cm with the addition of inverted sugar syrup and of corn syrup respectively. The fructose/glucose ratio decrease from 1.42 in authentic honey to 1.25 in honey adulterated with 50% inverted sugar syrup and from 1.42 to 1.34 in honey adulterated with 50% corn syrup. The results indicated that most of the values of the physicochemical parameters showed considerable changes on the adulterated honey with both types of syrups.
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