Evaluating the quality of commercial Iranian honeys

Honey is one of the most valuable foods that used in human societies to treat many diseases due to its healing properties for centuries. The lack of an objective way to distinguish natural honey from counterfeit honey has strengthened the field of profiteering in this area and has led to the supply of counterfeit honey instead of natural honey. So honey quality must be controlled analytically with the aim of guaranteeing the reality and preserving the consumer from commercial speculation.

The present study was conducted to evaluate 24 samples of 9 commercial brands of honey in Tehran’s markets with number 1 to 9 (1-AB, 2-TF, 3-DP, 4-JK, 5-SN, 6-SK, 7-IM, 8-MD, and 9-MH). A number of physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the samples were evaluated.

Carbohydrate composition was determined by GC/Mass to evaluate the contents of fructose, glucose, and sucrose. 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde (HMF) was quantified by HPLC-UV and other physicochemical quality parameters including moisture, pH, proline content; and diastase activity were also evaluated according to the Codex Alimentarius.

Only 2 brands met all major international specifications. Although all the parameters of the other brands were conformed, the diastase activity was not in a specific range.

The diastasis activity is considered as the most important factor to evaluate honey quality based on the results of this study.