Origin Estimation of Honey Samples by Using Constant and Discriminative Function Coefficients of Pure Honey and Honey Produced by Colonies Feeding with Different Sugars

Abstract

In this study, 25 chemical characteristics of 60 pure and adulterated honey samples obtained from feeding honeybee colonies with different syrup levels (20 and 100 L/colony) of High Fructose Corn Syrup 85 (HFCS-85), High Fructose Corn Syrup 55 (HFCS-55) and sucrose (SS) were statistically analysed in order to determine their discriminative power using a Stepwise Method. Seven characteristics including C-4%, vitamin C, Fructose/Glucose (F/G), viscosity, invertase and the difference between the delta C-13 value of honey and its protein (Delta delta C-13(p-h)) were found to be discriminative. These seven characteristics allowed 60 honey samples to be grouped in their original groups with complete accuracy. The original sources of eight honey samples of unknown origin could be identified by using Standard Multivariate Canonical Discriminant Function and Constant Descriptive Coefficients (SMCDFCDC) belonging to the seven biochemical characteristics. It is possible to identify any honey sample of unknown origin taken from the market or brought to the laboratory for analysis as pure or adulterated by using these functions and descriptive coefficients.