Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics

<b>Background</b>: Honey is one of the most adulterated foods worldwide, and several analytical methods have been developed over the last decade to detect syrup additions to honey. These include approaches based on stable isotopes and the specific detection of individual marker compounds...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jule Hansen, Christof Kunert, Kurt-Peter Raezke, Stephan Seifert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Metabolites
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/14/11/633
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850266998887415808
author Jule Hansen
Christof Kunert
Kurt-Peter Raezke
Stephan Seifert
author_facet Jule Hansen
Christof Kunert
Kurt-Peter Raezke
Stephan Seifert
author_sort Jule Hansen
collection DOAJ
description <b>Background</b>: Honey is one of the most adulterated foods worldwide, and several analytical methods have been developed over the last decade to detect syrup additions to honey. These include approaches based on stable isotopes and the specific detection of individual marker compounds or foreign enzymes. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (<sup>1</sup>H-NMR) spectroscopy is applied as a rapid and comprehensive screening method, which also enables the detection of quality parameters and the analysis of the geographical and botanical origin. However, especially for the detection of foreign sugars, <sup>1</sup>H-NMR has insufficient sensitivity. <b>Methods</b>: Since untargeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is more sensitive, we used this approach for the detection of positive and negative ions in combination with a recently developed data processing workflow for routine laboratories based on bucketing and random forest for the detection of rice, beet and high-fructose corn syrup in honey. <b>Results</b>: We show that the distinction between pure and adulterated honey is possible for all three syrups, with classification accuracies ranging from 98 to 100%, while the accuracy of the syrup content estimation depends on the respective syrup. For rice and beet syrup, the deviations from the true proportion were in the single-digit percentage range, while for high-fructose corn syrup they were much higher, in some cases exceeding 20%. <b>Conclusions</b>: The approach presented here is very promising for the robust and sensitive detection of syrup in honey applied in routine laboratories.
format Article
id doaj-art-aae3535ebe4a405880fdf0e6e282be42
institution OA Journals
issn 2218-1989
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Metabolites
spelling doaj-art-aae3535ebe4a405880fdf0e6e282be422025-08-20T01:53:57ZengMDPI AGMetabolites2218-19892024-11-01141163310.3390/metabo14110633Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and ChemometricsJule Hansen0Christof Kunert1Kurt-Peter Raezke2Stephan Seifert3Hamburg School of Food Science, Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Grindelallee 117, 20146 Hamburg, GermanyEurofins Food Integrity Control Services GmbH, Berliner Str. 2, 27721 Ritterhude, GermanyEurofins Food Integrity Control Services GmbH, Berliner Str. 2, 27721 Ritterhude, GermanyHamburg School of Food Science, Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Grindelallee 117, 20146 Hamburg, Germany<b>Background</b>: Honey is one of the most adulterated foods worldwide, and several analytical methods have been developed over the last decade to detect syrup additions to honey. These include approaches based on stable isotopes and the specific detection of individual marker compounds or foreign enzymes. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (<sup>1</sup>H-NMR) spectroscopy is applied as a rapid and comprehensive screening method, which also enables the detection of quality parameters and the analysis of the geographical and botanical origin. However, especially for the detection of foreign sugars, <sup>1</sup>H-NMR has insufficient sensitivity. <b>Methods</b>: Since untargeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is more sensitive, we used this approach for the detection of positive and negative ions in combination with a recently developed data processing workflow for routine laboratories based on bucketing and random forest for the detection of rice, beet and high-fructose corn syrup in honey. <b>Results</b>: We show that the distinction between pure and adulterated honey is possible for all three syrups, with classification accuracies ranging from 98 to 100%, while the accuracy of the syrup content estimation depends on the respective syrup. For rice and beet syrup, the deviations from the true proportion were in the single-digit percentage range, while for high-fructose corn syrup they were much higher, in some cases exceeding 20%. <b>Conclusions</b>: The approach presented here is very promising for the robust and sensitive detection of syrup in honey applied in routine laboratories.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/14/11/633syrup adulterationhoneyroutine analysisuntargeted LC-MSmachine learningrandom forest
spellingShingle Jule Hansen
Christof Kunert
Kurt-Peter Raezke
Stephan Seifert
Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
Metabolites
syrup adulteration
honey
routine analysis
untargeted LC-MS
machine learning
random forest
title Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
title_full Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
title_fullStr Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
title_full_unstemmed Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
title_short Detection of Sugar Syrups in Honey Using Untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics
title_sort detection of sugar syrups in honey using untargeted liquid chromatography mass spectrometry and chemometrics
topic syrup adulteration
honey
routine analysis
untargeted LC-MS
machine learning
random forest
url https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/14/11/633
work_keys_str_mv AT julehansen detectionofsugarsyrupsinhoneyusinguntargetedliquidchromatographymassspectrometryandchemometrics
AT christofkunert detectionofsugarsyrupsinhoneyusinguntargetedliquidchromatographymassspectrometryandchemometrics
AT kurtpeterraezke detectionofsugarsyrupsinhoneyusinguntargetedliquidchromatographymassspectrometryandchemometrics
AT stephanseifert detectionofsugarsyrupsinhoneyusinguntargetedliquidchromatographymassspectrometryandchemometrics