Detecting Honey Adulteration Using Micromass' IsoPrime Mass Spectrometer
Background (Back to Top)
With its complex structure and high market value, honey is a prime target for fraudulent adulteration. One of the most common means of adulterating honey is to add high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is difficult to detect using conventional techniques.
For the experiment, Micromass chose 13C/12C isotope ratios, which quantify small isotopic variations that occur in natural compounds from different origins. The technique for detectiing isotopic values of adulterated honey is based on the fact that there is a natural difference in isotopic ratios between plants presenting C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways. Generally, C4 plants (such as corn) have d13C ranging from -8 to -20%; C3 plants (primarily nectar-bearing plants) present values between -22 and -35%.
The analyses were performed on a Micromass IsoPrime, which was connected to a EuroVector EV300 Elemental Analyser via the Micromass Continuous Flow (CF) interface. Researchers analyzed six different samples: an authentic honey sample, a sample of sucrose, and four samples with different levels of adulteration of the pure honey with sucrose.
Results (Back to Top)
The analyses revealed a high level of agreement between the actual levels of adulteration of the pure honey with sucrose and the calculated levels of adulteration from the d13C values, as shown in the figure below.
Correlation between the d13C and the degree of adulteration.
The comparison demonstrates that continuous flow EA IRMS for d13C is a precise means for detecting honeys adulterated with sugar.
Honey samples for the research were provided by Dr. Casado of the Laboratorio Agroalimentar de Extremadura.
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