Carbon isotope ratio (13C/12C) of pine honey and detection of HFCS adulteration.

Carbon isotope ratio ((13)C/(12)C=δ(13)C) of 100 pine honey samples collected from 9 different localities by Mugla region (Turkey) in years 2006, 2007 and 2008 were investigated. The δ(13)Cprotein value of honey samples ranged between -23.7 and -26.6‰, while the δ(13)Choney value varied between -22.7 and -27‰. For 90% of the samples, the difference in the C isotope ratio of protein and honey fraction (δ(13)Cpro-δ(13)Chon) was -1.0‰ and/or higher. Therefore, it can be said that the generally anticipated minimum value of C isotope difference (-1.0‰) for honey is also valid for pine honey. On the other hand, C4 sugar value (%), which was calculated from the δ(13)Cpro-δ(13)Chon difference, was found to be linearly correlated with the amount of adulterant (HFCS) in pine honey. These results indicate that C4 sugar value is a powerful criteria for detecting HFCS adulteration in pine honey. The δ(13)Choney and δ(13)Cprotein-δ(13)Choney values of the samples did not show any significant differences in terms of both year and locality (P>0.05), while the δ(13)Cprotein values showed significant differences due to year (P<0.05) but not due to locality (P>0.05).