Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXV, Issue 1
Written by Andra Lavinia NICHIȚEAN, Diana CONSTANTINESCU-ARUXANDEI, Florin OANCEA
Honey is a nutraceutical and its price is related to consumer perception on the health promoting quality. Last years, in the European Union, Romania was constantly present in the top three honey producers. The honey bee foraging areas from Romania support production of high-quality honey, because of their large biodiversity. The overlapping biogeography of Romania, which connects Central Europe, South-East-Europe and Eastern Europe is associated with a diversity of the agro-pedo-climatic condition, leading to large diversity of plant species producing nectar and pollen. A large area of meadows, still traditionally managed, offer further support for the biodiversity and honey bee foraging. Romania is on the top of the EU producers for entomophile oleaginous crops, rapeseed and sunflower. Forests cover more than one third of Romania, and they include Acacia and Tilia species, and produce large amount of polyphenol rich honeydew. However, the perception of the honey quality by foreign customers is still not in accordance with the Romanian honey quality. The aim of this paper is to review the published data regarding health promoting quality indicators of the Romanian honey, total polyphenols and flavonoids content, antioxidant and anti-bacterial activities, and to discuss the actions which are necessary in order to transform the biological activity into a higher profitability of the Romanian honey value chain.
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