IDENTIFICATION OF ACACIA HONEY BY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY.

As several analytical methods have to be used together for a reliable authentication of the botanical origin of honey, such work is time consuming and costly. Thus, there is a real need for new methods that allow a rapid and reproducible authentication of the botanical origin of honey at low cost. Compared to spectroscopic techniques based on absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy offers a 100-1000-fold higher sensitivity and it was used to investigate authentication of the botanical origin of honey. Excitation spectra of acacia, meadow and honeydew honeys were scanned from 220 to 400 nm with the emission measured at 420 nm. All honey types showed significant fluorescence maxima of intensity between 220 nm and 257 nm. Samples of meadow honey had higher intensity of fluorescence when compared to acacia honey (3-fold), while honeydew honey showed different intensities of fluorescence. Acacia honey exhibits second maximum between 325 nm and 385 nm while honeydew and meadow honeys did not show significant fluorescence intensity in this range. Emission spectra at 420 nm with an excitation from 220 to 400 nm on Spectrofluorimeter may be used for the identification of acacia honey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]