Effect of long-term and heating storage on honey visible spectrum: an alternative parameter for quality monitoring of bracatinga honeydew honey.

Bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey (BHH) is a peculiar Brazilian honey. It is produced only every 2 years, which raises concerns about its quality since it can be submitted to different storage conditions until a new harvest is carried out. Therefore, this study investigated the changes in the visible spectrophotometric profile (VSP) of BHH during its storage at room temperature over 24 months and 40 °C for 4 months. Our findings indicated a similar VSP between the BHH samples, but that varied according to the storage condition. These changes were associated with the formation of brown compounds, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, which has a maximum limit established for honeys. Thereby, absorbance above 0.500 absorption units between 380 and 410 nm was proposed as indicative of BHH exposure to prolonged heating with significant loss of its quality. Still, a regression model for absorbance at 380 nm was proposed aiming to predict the BHH storage time at room temperature, since storage time longer than 20 months at average temperatures of 23.0 ± 2.3 °C do not seem to be suitable for BHH. Thus, the VSP showed potential for monitoring BHH quality.

Physicochemical properties and biological activities of bracatinga honeydew honey from different geographical locations.

Bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey is a Brazilian dark honey in increasing international appreciation. In this sense, the knowledge of its composition and potential biological properties becomes indispensable. In the present study, the physicochemical characteristics, including mineral and phenolic composition, and the scavenging, reducing, and antimicrobial proprieties of bracatinga honeydew honey (bhh) from five different geographical locations, were investigated. Bhh proved to be a potential functional food due to its high content of minerals (up to 6395 mg kg-1) and phenolic compounds (up to 2393 µg 100 g-1) and high scavenging and reducing activities. High antimicrobial activity against four bacterial strains, with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 10 to 60%, were also found. Additionally, through principal component analysis, partial discrimination of bhh was observed according to the geographical location, which favored the separation of samples from Lages, and mainly due to the presence of nectar in this honey, which was proposed for the samples from Bom Retiro. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13197-020-04937-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Detection of Salmonella by the 3M Molecular Detection Assays: MDS® Method.

Developed by 3M Company, 3M ™ Molecular Detection Assays-3M MDS-enable detection of Salmonella from advanced isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection technology. It can be used for a wide variety of products, including poultry, eggs, pet foods, and environmental samples, and results are obtained within about 24 h. In this chapter, all steps of the 3M MDS™ method for detection of Salmonella are described and detailed.

Aliphatic organic acids as promising authenticity markers of bracatinga honeydew honey.

This study aimed to differentiate bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey (BHH) from blossom honeys and BHH intentionally adulterated, all of them from three harvests, associating data of aliphatic organic acids (AOA) determined by capillary electrophoresis and chemometric analyses. The profile and concentration of AOA in pure BHH were similar between harvests, but distinct from blossom honeys. Succinic, glycolic, glutaric, malic, acetic, gluconic, and lactic acids were responsible for the differentiation between these two types of honey since they were the dominant variables (r > 0.80) in the principal component analysis. Based on this, the classification and regression trees method was used to develop a classification model considering these AOA. The proposed method needed only six of these AOA and adequately classified all blossom honeys and almost all pure and adulterated BHH. Therefore, the proposed model proved to be promising and reliable for verifying authenticity and fraud detection in BHH.

Use of visible spectrophotometric fingerprint and chemometric approaches for the differentiation of Mimosa scabrella Bentham honeydew honey.

Honeydew honeys, including bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey, are highly appreciated due to its nutritional and sensory properties. Therefore, fast and inexpensive methods must be developed to differentiate this distinct class of honey. Although methods using the visible spectrophotometric fingerprint (VSF) have never been used to differentiate bracatinga honeydew honey and blossom honey, this technique appears to be a viable alternative, successfully used in the differentiation and fraud detection of various foods, including honeys from other botanical sources. In this sense, the present study aimed to verify the existence of a specific VSF for bracatinga honeydew honey and blossom honey and differentiate both type of honeys using the VSF associated with chemometric analysis. The VSF of 30 bracatinga honeydew honeys harvested in three different years (2014, 2016, and 2018) and 21 blossom honeys (harvested in 2016) were evaluated. The existence of a different VSF for bracatinga honeydew honeys and blossom honeys allowed the satisfactory differentiation of both types of honeys. Additionally, bracatinga honeydew honey presented a unique VSF, independent of the year of harvest, which can be exploited as a fingerprint of this type of honey, contributing to its authenticity.

Differentiation of honeydew honeys and blossom honeys: a new model based on colour parameters.

The present study aimed to differentiate Mimosa scabrella Bentham (bracatinga) honeydew honeys from blossom honeys, with and without addition of heat treatment, and bracatinga honeydew honeys adulterated with blossom honeys (5, 15 and 25% of blossom honeys), using chromatic characterization associated with chemometric analysis. Bracatinga honeydew honeys presented unusual chromatic characteristics which allowed differentiation of blossom honeys by principal components analysis. Additionally, a classification model was developed in order to establish clear rules that characterize each group of honey. The proposed model correctly classified bracatinga honeydew honey and blossom honey samples, with and without heat treatment. Only two samples adulterated with 5% blossom honey were misclassified. The chromatic analysis associated with chemometric analysis showed promising perspectives for its exploitation being able to be used for screening and selection of bracatinga honeydew honey, fresh or thermally treated as well as fraud detection.

An overview of physicochemical characteristics and health-promoting properties of honeydew honey.

Honeydew honey has differentiated chemical and physicochemical characteristics besides potential functional properties such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. In this sense, the interest and consumption of this honey as a functional product by the food industry and consumers have increased. Honeydew honeys usually present dark color, a lower content of monosaccharides and higher values of pH, acidity, electric conductivity, proteins, minerals, phenolic compounds, and oligosaccharides compared to blossom honeys, which contribute to its outstanding biological activities. Consequently, contaminations and adulterations of this honey can occur and compromise the quality, safety and authenticity of honeydew honey. Thus, detailed knowledge of the composition and properties of honeydew honeys is of great importance, especially considering that honeydew honeys are still few studied and therefore underestimated. Therefore, in this review, the physicochemical characteristics, chemical and bioactive composition, functional and health-promoting properties of honeydew honey as well as contamination, adulteration and authenticity of this honey are summarized.

Physicochemical characteristics of bracatinga honeydew honey and blossom honey produced in the state of Santa Catarina: An approach to honey differentiation.

Due to the increasing demand and interest of the consumers of bracatinga honeydew honey, it becomes important to know its characteristics in order to guarantee the quality of this dark honey. It is also necessary to investigate possible parameters that easily determine their differentiation from other honeys, thus guaranteeing their authenticity. Therefore, in the present study, the physicochemical characteristics and the reducing/scavenging proprieties of 16 bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey samples and 25 blossom honey (different botanical origin) samples from Santa Catarina, Brazil, were investigated. Bracatinga honeydew honeys were defined by its high free acidity, electrical conductivity and reducing/scavenging capacity, and low glucose content.Still, these specific parameters allowed the differentiation between bracatinga honeydew honeys and blossom honeys, from the of principal component analysis, contributing to the differentiation of these honeys.

Effect of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on the bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds, minerals, and antioxidant capacity of Mimosa scabrella Bentham honeydew honeys.

Honey is a product traditionally consumed due to its possible health benefits promoted by natural antioxidants. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on these compounds in honeys. To improve the knowledge of this subject, the present study aimed to investigate the influence of simulated digestion on the stability of antioxidant capacity (FRAP, DPPH, and Folin-Ciocalteu assays), phenolic compounds (LC-ESI-MS/MS), and minerals (CE-DAD) in Mimosa scabrella Bentham honeydew honeys. The results show that the digestive system, mainly after duodenal digestion, significantly decreased the antioxidant capacity assessed by FRAP (410.3±18.3 to 564.7±8.4µmolFe+2100g-1), DPPH (30.1±0.8 to 33.9±1.4mgAAE100g-1), and Folin-Ciocalteu assays (58.3±2.6 to 142.0±1.6mgGAE100g-1) of this honey. However, phenolic compounds and minerals showed high stability and in some cases, significantly increased after the simulated digestion, presenting a bioaccessible fraction that ranged from 78.2±6.4 to 174.38±6.82% and 94.0±4.3 to 220.5±3.4%, respectively. Therefore, these honey constituents may be considered highly bioaccessible and potentially bioavailable. Additionally, the correlation between the investigated parameters suggests that other honey constituents could also possibly affect antioxidant capacity of this honey. In conclusion, the bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Benth.) honeydew honey can be highlighted as an important natural source of bioaccessible polyphenols, besides presenting highly bioaccessible minerals in its composition, maintaining a satisfactory antioxidant capacity.

Development and validation of a LC-ESI-MS/MS method for the determination of phenolic compounds in honeydew honeys with the diluted-and-shoot approach.

A simple, reproducible and sensitive method has been optimized and validated for simultaneous determination of 32 phenolic compounds in bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Benth.) with the diluted-and-shoot approach, without the need of any additional clean-up steps. It has been based on high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). The chromatography conditions were optimized, and due to the selectivity provided by MRM monitoring, LC separation required only 9min. The developed method was validated on the basis of Eurachem and European Commission Decision 2002/657/EC guidelines. Mean recoveries ranged from 70.4 to 110%. Intra-day and inter-day precision with RSD (relative standard deviations) from 0.14 to 18.9% and 0.34 to 20.0%, respectively were achieved. Limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.03 to 3.20µgL-1 and 0.20-12.8µgL-1. Finally, the method was applied to samples and 20 phenolic compounds were quantified in all the samples analyzed, representing a contribution to the characterization and quantification of phenolic compounds from bracatinga (M. scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey.