A liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) based metabolomic approach for the discrimination of manuka honey from the domestic honey was developed. The results of multivariate data analysis showed significant discrimination of manuka honey from domestic honey. Furthermore, a partial least squares discrimination model was established for honey discrimination, enabling the correct identification of unknown testing samples. A total of 34 highly expressed metabolic markers were obtained from the developed discrimination model, including 3-phenyllactic acid and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid which had both been previously identified as manuka honey markers. The area under the curve of the constructed marker combination reached 0.99. The developed metabolomic approach provides a new method for the quality control of manuka honey.
Keywords: high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS); liquid chromatography (LC); manuka honey; metabolomics.