TEHRAN (MNA) – Iranian researchers managed to build a honey adulteration detection kit to enable consumers to recognize the fake honey from the pure one with the lowest cost.
Adulteration usually refers to mixing other matter (substance) of an inferior and sometimes harmful quality with food or drink intended to be sold.
Abbas Ebrahimi, project manager of "chemical kit for honey adulteration detection” said that the most important concern for honey consumers today is to ensure the quality of this food.
"Given that honey contains various combinations, we need laboratory tests to determine its quality which is associated with high costs,” Ebrahimi noted, adding the designed kit easily detects purity of honey, in the shortest time possible.
The Kit is designed to evaluate the existence and amount of two predominant enzymes of glucose oxidase and diastase (amylase) as well as Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in honey.
HMF is an organic compound produced by acid-catalyzed dehydration of sugars, primarily fructose and it is crucial to evaluate the conformity of honey for daily use according to the government legislation.
Fake honey is produced by hydrolysis of sugar materials containing large amounts of this combination.
The project conducted by Seyed Hossein Safavi and Abbas Ebrahimi, won the second prize in chemistry at the 18th Khwarizmi Youth Festival.