Abstract:

The adulteration of honey is generally concerned by consumers and management departments of safety and quality. The adulteration of honey also affects the export of honey trade. In this paper, some basic characteristics and detection methods of honey adulteration has been reviewed. Stable carbon isotopic ratio technology, near-infrared spectroscopy, chromatogram analysis, enzymatic activity detection, microscopic analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and optical rotation detection were discussed based on their specialties and application ranges. Combinatorial detection methods for honey adulteration were proposed to identify the mixture of honey and set up a traceability system or fingerprint data for honey products, which may be important to ensure safety and quality of honey.

Key words: honey, adulteration, detection technology, discrimination method, safety and quality