Lara Sobrino-Gregorio1, Fernando Tanleque-Alberto2, Román Bataller3, Juan Soto3, Isabel Escriche1,4. 1. Instituto de Ingeniería de Alimentos para el Desarrollo, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain. 2. Food Technology Departament, Universidade Rovuma, Nampula, Mozambique. 3. Instituto de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM), Centro Mixto Universitat Politècnica de València. Departamento de Química, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain. 4. Departamento de Tecnología de Alimentos (DTA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The growing need to classify the origin of honey in a simple way is leading to the development of affordable analytical equipment that is in-line and manageable, enabling rapid on-site screening. The aim of this work was therefore to evaluate whether an electronic tongue (made of four metallic electrodes: Ir, Rh, Pt, Au), based on potential multistep pulse voltammetry with electrochemical polishing, is able to differentiate between honey samples from Spain, Honduras, and Mozambique. RESULTS: It was demonstrated, for the first time, that automatic pulse voltammetry, in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) statistical analysis, was able to differentiate honey samples from these three countries. A partial least squares (PLS) analysis predicted the level of certain physicochemical parameters, the best results being for conductivity and moisture with correlation coefficients of 0.948 and 0.879, whereas the weakest correlation was for the sugars. CONCLUSION: The tool proposed in this study could be applied to identify the country origin of the three types of multifloral honey considered here. It also offers promising perspectives for expanding knowledge of the provenance of honey. All of this could be achieved when a comprehensive database with the information generated by this electronic tongue has been created.
BACKGROUND: The growing need to classify the origin of honey in a simple way is leading to the development of affordable analytical equipment that is in-line and manageable, enabling rapid on-site screening. The aim of this work was therefore to evaluate whether an electronic tongue (made of four metallic electrodes: Ir, Rh, Pt, Au), based on potential multistep pulse voltammetry with electrochemical polishing, is able to differentiate between honey samples from Spain, Honduras, and Mozambique. RESULTS: It was demonstrated, for the first time, that automatic pulse voltammetry, in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) statistical analysis, was able to differentiate honey samples from these three countries. A partial least squares (PLS) analysis predicted the level of certain physicochemical parameters, the best results being for conductivity and moisture with correlation coefficients of 0.948 and 0.879, whereas the weakest correlation was for the sugars. CONCLUSION: The tool proposed in this study could be applied to identify the country origin of the three types of multifloral honey considered here. It also offers promising perspectives for expanding knowledge of the provenance of honey. All of this could be achieved when a comprehensive database with the information generated by this electronic tongue has been created.