ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HONEY BY GENERAL PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL INDICATORS AND CONTENT OF MAIN SUGARS

HUGMOY

Abstract

Monitoring the quality of food products in the Rospotrebnadzor system allows us to exclude the negative impact of food on human health. Honey is one of the most falsified natural food products. Violation of honey processing technology, failure to comply with storage conditions and modes, dilution of honey with sugar and other syrups, violation of beekeeping conditions are common ways of falsifying honey. Confirmation of compliance of honey products with quality and safety, strengthening control over honey at all stages of product distribution is an important task in providing consumers with honey that meets the requirements of standards. The objects of the research were coded samples of honey sold on the consumer market in Kemerovo. Standardized methods of honey analysis were used in the tests. The following physicochemical indicators were selected as criteria for confirming the authenticity and quality of honey: mass fraction of water, total acidity, diastase number, content of hydroxymethylfurfural, content of basic sugars. The selected criteria allow us to identify high-quality falsification of honey with a high degree of reliability. The results of the studies of physicochemical quality indicators revealed a discrepancy in the diastase number in 14% of the samples, a discrepancy in the mass fraction of water and the content of hydroxymethylfurfural in 7% of the samples;the sucrose content exceeds the standardized values in two samples - by 40 and 420%, respectively; 7% of the samples do not comply with the content of fructose and glucose. The data obtained are of practical importance for expanding the scope of standardization of the standardized quality indicators of various types of honey for individual sugars and emphasize the need for further studies of other types of honey (monofloral, honeydew) to assess their quality and authenticity in order to identify counterfeiting.