title: Authentication of the botanical origin of honey by near-infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR) was evaluated for the authentication of eight unifloral and polyfloral honey types (n = 364 samples) previously classified using traditional methods such as chemical, pollen, and sensory analysis. Chemometric evaluation of the spectra was carried out by applying principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis. The corresponding error rates were calculated according to Bayes' theorem. NIR spectroscopy enabled a reliable discrimination of acacia, chestnut, and fir honeydew honey from the other unifloral and polyfloral honey types studied. The error rates ranged from <0.1 to 6.3% depending on the honey type. NIR proved also to be useful for the classification of blossom and honeydew honeys. The results demonstrate that near-infrared spectrometry is a valuable, rapid, and nondestructive tool for the authentication of the above-mentioned honeys, but not for all varieties studied.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Bee Research Centre, Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux, Schwarzenburgstrasse 161, CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland. kaspar.ruoff@inframiel.ch
authors.forename: Kaspar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ruoff
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luginbühl
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bogdanov
authors.forename: Jacques Olivier
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Bosset
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Estermann
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ziolko
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amado
mesh_terms: D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D035264:Flowers; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis* / Q000145:classification*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry; D011058:Pollen; D012677:Sensation; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared