Honey adulteration detection: voltammetric e-tongue vs. official methods for physico-chemical parameter determination

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture 2018-02
• Main Authors: Oroian, Mircea, Paduret, Sergiu, Ropciuc, Sorina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1097-0010

The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of a voltammetric e-tongue (three electrodes: reference electrode (Ag/AgCl), counter electrode (glassy carbon electrode rod) and working electrode (Au, Ag, Pt and glass electrode)) for honey adulteration detection. For this purpose a number of 55 samples of authentic honey (acacia, honeydew, sunflower, tilia and polyfloral) and 150 adulterated ones were analyzed. The adulteration was made using fructose, glucose, inverted sugar, hydrolyzed inulin syrup and malt wort in different percentages: with 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%, respectively.The e-tongue has been compared with the physico-chemical parameters (pH, free acidity, electrical conductivity (EC) and CIEL*a*b* parameters (L*, a* and b*)) in order to achieve a suitable method for the classification of authentic and adulterated honeys. The e-tongue and physico-chemical parameters reached a 97.50% correctly classification of the authentic and adulterated honeys. In the case of the adulterated honey samples, the e-tongue reached an 83.33% correctly classifications while the physico-chemical parameters only 73.33%, respectively. The e-tongue is a fast, easy and accurate method for honey adulteration detection which can be used in-situ by the beekeepers and provide useful information on EC and free acidity.