Detection of sugar syrup adulteration in honey using ethanol isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EIM-IRMS)

Date

2026-02-15

Author

Gulenc, Baris Ege
Ateş, Elif Gökçen
Tonyalı Karslı, Gökcem
Smajlovic, Ivan
Smajlovic, Margarita
Mazi, Bekir Gokcen
Okuyan, Samet
Demir, Tahsin
Guney, Fazıl
Akdeniz, Gokhan
Öztop, Halil Mecit

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

139
views

300
downloads

Cite This

Food adulteration, particularly in honey, poses a global concern due to its impact on product quality and safety. In this study, honey samples were produced under controlled feeding conditions, using syrups from C3 and C4 plants at varying levels. Free acidity, moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, sugar composition, diastase activity, HMF, and proline content were analyzed to evaluate honey quality. While these parameters provided valuable insights into general quality and authenticity, they proved to be insufficient for the exact detection of adulteration. Although Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) is an established tool for this purpose, Elemental Analyzer-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (EA-IRMS) successfully identified C4-type adulteration, but failed to detect C3-type adulterants through δ13C analysis alone. The EIM-IRMS (Ethanol Isotope Measurement–Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry) method, which measures the non-exchangeable hydrogen isotope ratios (δDn) in ethanol derived from honey, demonstrates superior sensitivity in detecting C3-type adulteration. Ethanol δDn values for adulterated samples differed significantly from controls, enabling clear discrimination.

Subject Keywords

C3 and C4 sugars, EIM-IRMS, Food authenticity, Honey adulteration, Isotope ratio mass spectrometry, δ13C, δDn

URI

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=105029986787&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118573

Collections

Department of Food Engineering, Article