Investigation of adulteration made with wheat starch based sugars in honey

In this study, it was aimed to detect adulteration in high fructose wheat syrup (HFWS). For this purpose, honeys of different botanical and geographical origins were intentionally adulterated by adding HFWS at different rates (%10-40). Glucose, fructose and sucrose were quantified by using With a the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system whereas maltose, maltotriose, isomaltose, isomaltotriose, maltotetrose, trehalose, turanose, cellobiose, panose, erlose, nigerose, kojibiose and raffinose were quantified by using an ion chromatography system. Within the scope of the study, FTIR-ATR spectra of the samples were collected and δ13C values were determined by IR-MS method. Both the chromatographic analysis results and the spectrum data were evaluated with the chemometric techniques namely PLS (partial least squares), PLS-DA (partial least squares discriminant analysis) and PCA (principal component analysis). The results showed that even with the addition of 40% HFWS, which is the highest mixing ratio, to honey samples, δ 13C values and sugar concentrations were within the limits determined by the relavent legislation. The concentration of minor sugars in honeys varied statistically significantly with the addition of HFWS. With the evaluation of chromatographic data by PLS-DA method, a significant difference was observed in honey samples with 40% HFWS compared to pure honey. The reliability of the PLS-DA model was confirmed by the permutation test as well as the statistical values of R2Y and Q2. PLS-DA VIP (variable importance in projection) values revealed that the sugar components that contributed the most to this distinction were sucrose, maltotetrose, raffinose and kojibiose, respectively. In order to support these findings, univariate statistical analysis (t-test) of the chromatographic ata was also performed. As a result of univariate statistical analysis, it was determined that the differences between honey samples with 40% fructose syrup added and pure honey samples were statistically significant by considering the concentrations of sucrose, maltotetrose, raffinose, kojibiose, isomaltothriose and erlose, respectively. In addition, as a result of the hierarchical clustering analysis it has been shown that honey samples with 40% HFWS added and pure honey samples can be classified to a large extent by using only using sucrose and maltotetrose concentrations.