Botanical discrimination of Greek unifloral honeys with physico-chemical and chemometric analyses

Ioannis K Karabagias; Anastasia V Badeka; Stavros Kontakos; Sofia Karabournioti; Michael G Kontominas

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.033

Botanical discrimination of Greek unifloral honeys with physico-chemical and chemometric analyses

Food Chem. 2014 Dec 15:165:181-90. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.033. Epub 2014 May 17.

Authors

Ioannis K Karabagias¹, Anastasia V Badeka¹, Stavros Kontakos², Sofia Karabournioti³, Michael G Kontominas⁴

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Ioannina 45110, Greece.
² Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Social Administration and Political Science, Komotini 69100, Greece.
³ Attiki Honey SA, Protomagias 9, Krioneri Attikis 14568, Greece.
⁴ Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Ioannina 45110, Greece; Department of Chemistry, American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt. Electronic address: mkontomi@cc.uoi.gr.

PMID: 25038665
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.033

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of characterisation and classification of Greek unifloral honeys (pine, thyme, fir and orange blossom) according to botanical origin using volatile compounds, conventional physico-chemical parameters and chemometric analyses (MANOVA and Linear Discriminant Analysis). For this purpose, 119 honey samples were collected during the harvesting period 2011 from 14 different regions in Greece known to produce unifloral honey of good quality. Physico-chemical analysis included the identification and semi quantification of fifty five volatile compounds performed by Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy and the determination of conventional quality parameters such as pH, free, lactonic, total acidity, electrical conductivity, moisture, ash, lactonic/free acidity ratio and colour parameters L, a, b. Results showed that using 40 diverse variables (30 volatile compounds of different classes and 10 physico-chemical parameters) the honey samples were satisfactorily classified according to botanical origin using volatile compounds (84.0% correct prediction), physicochemical parameters (97.5% correct prediction), and the combination of both (95.8% correct prediction) indicating that multi element analysis comprises a powerful tool for honey discrimination purposes.

Keywords: Chemical markers; Chemometrics; Classification; Multi element analysis; Unifloral honeys.

MeSH terms

Abies / chemistry*
Flowers / chemistry*
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / methods*
Honey / analysis*
Pinus / chemistry*
Solid Phase Microextraction / methods*
Thymus Plant / chemistry*