Discover authenticity markers in luxury to low-cost honey

Honey is a natural aromatic sweetener comprising over 95% water and sugars. The remainder is made up of compounds that include flavonoids, proteins, vitamins, free amino acids and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which give different honey varieties their distinctive characteristics. Honey is prone to food fraud, where either a less desirable honey is misrepresented as a more desirable one or honey substitutes are used to add bulk to the original product. Markes International demonstrates sorptive extraction using high-capacity HiSorb™ probes to extract aroma compounds spanning a wide volatility range from different honey samples. Automated statistical analysis was used to uncover subtle differences between the honey samples to determine possible markers of authenticity.