Unique physicochemical properties and rare reducing sugar trehalulose mandate new international regulation for stingless bee honey

Norhasnida Zawawi; Jiali Zhang; Natasha L Hungerford; Hans S A Yates; Dennis C Webber; Madeleine Farrell; Ujang Tinggi; Bhesh Bhandari; Mary T Fletcher

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131566

Unique physicochemical properties and rare reducing sugar trehalulose mandate new international regulation for stingless bee honey

Food Chem. 2022 Mar 30;373(Pt B):131566. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131566. Epub 2021 Nov 11.

Authors

Norhasnida Zawawi¹, Jiali Zhang², Natasha L Hungerford², Hans S A Yates³, Dennis C Webber⁴, Madeleine Farrell³, Ujang Tinggi³, Bhesh Bhandari⁵, Mary T Fletcher²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia; Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland, Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains, Qld 4108, Australia. Electronic address: norhasnida@upm.edu.my.
² Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland, Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains, Qld 4108, Australia.
³ Forensic and Scientific Services, Queensland Health, Coopers Plains, Qld 4108, Australia.
⁴ Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia.
⁵ School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.

PMID: 34823933
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131566

Abstract

Stingless bee honey (SBH) of four stingless bee species (Heterotrigona itama, Geniotrigona thoracica, Tetragonula carbonaria, and Tetragonula hockingsi) from two geographic regions (Malaysia and Australia, n = 36) were studied for their physicochemical parameters, including total phenolic and multi-elemental contents. Sugar analysis confirmed the prominent presence of trehalulose in all samples. All SBH failed to meet the CODEX Standard for honey moisture, free acidity, and total fructose plus glucose levels. One-way ANOVA, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical component analysis (HCA) confirm distinctive differences between Australian and Malaysian SBH with Australian SBH having significantly (P < 0.05) higher pH, total phenolic, total mineral, and electrical conductivity attributes. Toxic elements in all SBH were much lower than standard CODEX limit. The species G. thoracica produced honey with significantly (P < 0.05) higher trehalulose than both Australian bee species. This research will add value to SBH and hasten new international standards ensuring commercial viability, safety, quality, and marketability of SBH.

Keywords: Honey; Honey standard; Physicochemical properties; Stingless bee; Trehalulose.

MeSH terms

Animals
Australia
Bees
Disaccharides
Honey*
Sugars

Substances

Disaccharides
Sugars
trehalulose