Title : The importance of testing the quality and authenticity of food products: The example of honey
Abstract:
The aim of our study was to review methods of honey testing in the assessment of its quality and authenticity. The quality of honey, like other food products, is multidimensional. This quality can be assessed not only on the basis of the characteristics evaluated by the consumer during purchase and consumption, but also on the basis of various physicochemical parameters. A number of research methods are used to verify the quality of honeys and to confirm their authenticity. Obligatory methods of assessing the quality of honey are usually described in legal acts. On the other hand, other, non-normative methods of honey quality assessment are used worldwide; they can be used to determine not only the elementary chemical composition of individual types of honey, but also the biological activity of honey and its components. However, so far, there has been no systematization of these methods together with a discussion of problems encountered when determining the authenticity of honeys.
The analysis of research methods allowed us to identify 16 methodological groups in the field of honey quality and authenticity. The review of methods also allowed for the extraction of parameters indicating changes not only in the quality, but also in the authenticity of the honeys, along with the interpretation of exceeding the limit values of the parameters.
Audience Take Away:
- We collected the information about the methods of assessing the quality and authenticity of honeys, and the problems that occur during this assessment.
- Our work provides a review not only of research methods, but also of their practical use. The methodological limitations and strengths of each method have been indicated. The work can be used as a resource and a quick path to finding an appropriate research method to determine the quality and authenticity of honeys.
- Our intention was to create a tool to help in selecting the most effective research methods, but also to combine several methods in order to obtain a reliable result.
