Detection of honey adulteration with beet sugar using stable isotope methodology

A usual aspect of our work involves the analysis of honey samples for later sale, following current Spanish legislation. Such analyses essentially consist of studying pollen sediments, and sensory and physicochemical analyses. With this background, it seemed appropriate to investigate possible adulterations due to the addition of sugar (beet and cane). To do this, we selected 49 samples of honey obtained from 14 floral types and used them for pollinic and sensory analyses and to detect possible adulterations due to the addition of beet sugar products (treating the oligosaccharide fraction contained in the honey with the galactose oxidase reaction) or due to corn syrup addition (with normal δ13C stable carbon isotope ratios). After classifying the samples according to the results of the pollen and sensory analyses, further assays were conducted. From the results it was concluded that 15% of the samples had been adulterated with beet sugar and 4% with cane sugar. The implementation of many analyses for each sample means that the results can be intercorrelated very well.