title: Determination of proline in honey: comparison between official methods, optimization and validation of the analytical methodology.
abstract: The study compares official spectrophotometric methods for the determination of proline content in honey - those of the International Honey Commission (IHC) and the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) - with the original Ough method. Results show that the extra time-consuming treatment stages added by the IHC method with respect to the Ough method are pointless. We demonstrate that the AOACs method proves to be the best in terms of accuracy and time saving. The optimized waiting time for the absorbance recording is set at 35min from the removal of reaction tubes from the boiling bath used in the sample treatment. The optimized method was validated in the matrix: linearity up to 1800mgL(-1), limit of detection 20mgL(-1), limit of quantification 61mgL(-1). The method was applied to 43 unifloral honey samples from the Marche region, Italy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: c.truzzi@univpm.it.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Truzzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Annibaldi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Illuminati
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finale
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scarponi
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D011392:Proline / Q000032:analysis*; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011392:Proline
keywords: AOAC; IHC; Marche region unifloral honey; Official analytical methods; Proline; Validation