12 TIPS TO KNOW NATURAL HONEY BASED ON INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

“A total of 80 honeys sold in Malaysian Market are artificial honey”. The article Diabetes Honey published in Bertia Harian Newspaper on 19th November 2017.

It was mentioned that either the honey is being mixed with other artificial sweeteners, or has not followed the processing set up to certify the honey as genuine.

It is usually sold by a cheap price due to the low standard extraction procedures to escape the standards extraction procedures which usually cost much higher price.

Consuming this artificial honey can cause a health complication to the body in a long run.

Introduction to Honey:

Honey is a natural sweetener produced by honey bees from the nectar of flowers. The bees will fly and collect the nectar that is on the flowers and stored in a honey sac in the abdomen. Next this nectar will be taken back to the hive to be processed into honey. The honey produced is then stored in a honeycomb. This honey becomes a source of food for the bees themselves and the young larvae. Honey contains a variety of nutrients that are good to be used as an antidote or used as a substitute for sweets in food.

The medicine is available on three things. Piercing with a blood collecting device (cupping), drinking honey or sticking with fire. However, I forbid my people from holding fire. ”Narrated Ibn 'Abbas (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Juz. 7)

Honey has 26 amino acids. 6 of these acids are essential for life but cannot be produced by the human body. Because of this, we are advised to consume honey every day so that our body gets these six essential acids.

However, the benefits of this honey can only be obtained from natural honey. Therefore, we as consumers are obliged to have the knowledge to distinguish honey purchased in the market whether natural or otherwise.

12 Tips to Recognize Natural Honey Based on International Standards

To ensure that we can buy genuine honey, we share tips that are used around the world to ensure that the honey purchased is genuine and meets the criteria set by the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH).

The tips listed are more of a laboratory test, very different from the tips given elsewhere because we think that only through laboratory testing can a product be determined its originality due to taste and colour can be manipulated nowadays but laboratory tests are very difficult to manipulate.

‍

1-     Moisture content less than 20 (Moisture Content) - CODEX(2001)

All types of natural honey have a moisture content below 20 (except Heather honey). The nectar carried by honey has 80 waters. The nectar brought into the honeycomb will be fanned by the bees very quickly repeatedly until the water in the honey evaporates and the honey becomes viscous.

2-     Fructose and Glucose content not less than60 g/100g (Total of both)-CODEX (2001)

Natural honey other than milk melon honey, a mixture of milk melon honey with blossom honey, must contain more than 60 g/100g fructose and glucose. Fructose and Glucose are the main ingredients in honey. Regulation 130, Food Regulations 1985 under the Food Act 1983 has also stipulated that honey must contain not less than 60 reducing sugars.

3-     Sucrose content does not exceed 5 g/100g -CODEX (2001):

Natural honey other than the honey mentioned below must contain not less than 5 g/100g sucrose. Regulation 130 , The Food Regulations 1985 under the Food Act 1983 has stipulated that honey shall contain sucrose sugar not exceeding 10.

Alfalfa, Citrus spp., False Acacia, French Honeysuckle, Menzies Banksia, Red Gum, Leather wood and Eucryphia mulligan are honeys that contain more than 10 g/100g sucrose.

4-   100% Raw – CODEX (2001):

Natural honey is usually labelled 100 raw which means that the honey is not mixed with any chemicals and the process to obtain the honey does not involve heat or affect the aroma, taste and quality of the honey. Most commercial companies fail to ensure that the process of producing honey meets the set guidelines. Among them is honey squeezed by applying heat up to 70 degrees Celsius to help melt the crystals while killing all living particles. This applied heat will reduce the nutrients, taste and aroma of the honey produced.

‍

5-    Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content less than 40%- CODEX (2001):

The high HMF content in honey indicates that the honey has undergone a high heating process when processed. The usual HMF content in honey is around 10 – 15%. Additionally, the HMF content in honey in excess of 100 mg/kg may signal that the honey has been mixed with cane sugar or sucrose.

‍

6-    No Chloramphenicol ingredients:

Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic that has been widely used since 1949. This ingredient is widely used in the process of preparing artificial honey.

The use of Chloramphenicol can affect a person's health for a long period of time such as aplastic anaemia, bone marrow suppression, leukaemia and some other blood -related diseases. Because of this, it is important for consumers to check whether the honey contains Chloramphenicol or not. The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH)also imposes mandatory conditions for honey importers to perform a chloramphenicol analysis test before honey can be brought into Malaysia.

‍

7-    Proline content exceeds 3 mg/kg:

Proline is the dominant amino acid present in honey and is an indication of the quality of a honey (Bogdanov S. et al, 2004).
This is because this Proline content will decrease in parallel with the passage of time as this honey is stored (VoN der Ohe et al., 1991). The level of proline content in honey also depends on the time the nectar is processed by the honey. Indirectly this proline indicates the origin of the honey obtained (Cotte J.F. et al, 2004).
According to a study by Her MosíN et al., (2003), the minimum content of proline that should be present in honey is 180 mg/kg.

8-    Diastase Analysis of more than 8 - CODEX (2001):

Diastase is an enzyme that is found naturally in honey and degrades over time, especially when exposed to heat. Like HMF, diastase can be used to indicate the age and exposure of honey to hot temperatures.
The test for diastase is part of the Codex Standard for honey and has gained world attention. The requirements for Diastase activity are described in the Codex Standard for Honey with a minimum limit of 8-Schade units.

‍

9-    Free Acidity does not exceed 50 meg/ kg:

Free acidity is an important parameter associated with the deterioration of honey. The Codex Alimentarius Committee(2001) allows a maximum value of 50 meq kg 1 for free acidity. Higher values ​​may indicate fermentation of sugars into organic acids. However the free acidity content can be influenced by the presence of different organic acids, the geographical position of the honey and the flower harvest.

‍

10-  Electrical Conductivity - CODEX (2001):

The level of electrical conductivity (EC) set by the Codex Standard for Honey is that it must be less than 0.8 mS/cm when 20g of honey is dissolved in 100 ml of water (Subbiah, Balaji * Stembridge, Alice * Morison, Ken., 2015).
These EC levels are influenced by honey source, acidity, salt content, moisture and viscosity. Honey from milk melon has a higher conductivity than honey from flowering plants.

‍

11- C4 Sugar Analysis  less than 7%:

The C4 sugar test was used to identify whether the honey had been added sugars such as cane sugar and sugar syrup (HFCS). Honey from sugar -fed hives may fail this C4 sugar test especially if harvested early in the season. International benchmarks set the C4 sugar content in honey to be a maximum of 7%.
However this analysis is still in the process of discussion because in 2010 and2012 natural manuka honey imported from New Zealand worth $ 6 million failed in this test (Rogers, 2014).
Further investigation found that manuka honey, although natural, still failed this C4 sugar test.

12- Not infested with ants:

Honey contains less than 20. At this humidity, bacteria and fungi cannot reproduce, this is one of the reasons why natural honey is difficult to breakdown. Among other reasons is because of the low rate of water activity which is a measure of how easily an organism accesses water in a particular food. Fungi require water activity at a level of 0.75, and water activity in honey is 0.6.The pH of honey is also around 4, which is at a level that most bacteria cannot handle.
Due to this, the viscous natural honey cannot be used by animals and insects including ants.
If given a choice between sugar water or honey, ants prefer sugar water. This is because ants have to work harder to absorb sugar from honey and during the process they will not get much sugar compared to sugar water which is easy for ants to get the sugar due to the high water content.
However, natural honey that is exposed to a humid environment will cause the water content in the honey to increase which in turn attracts ants to get it.
Nowadays sugar is easier for ants to obtain than when the water content in honey is low. We will find that after 1 day of natural honey is left out of the bottle, a group of ants will begin to close this honey until it runs out.

Conclusion

The authenticity of honey depends on several factors such as sugar content, moisture content, HMF, free acidity value and so on (Zsidei, 1993;ACquaroNe et al., 2007). Consuming artificial honey every day could have serious complications for your health in a long run. Therefore, If we want to obtain the benefits of honey, we must ensure that the honey we purchased meets these criteria.