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Hydrogen (2H/1H) Combined with Carbon (13C/12C) Isotope Ratios Analysis to Determine the Adulteration of Commercial Honey

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Abstract

In this study, δ 2H values of honey were detected and then applied to the identification of honey adulteration. In the meantime, δ 13C values of honey, its protein fraction, and individual sugar (glucose and fructose) were also determined by EA-IRMS and LC-IRMS, which combined with δ 2H values of honey, have been developed to improve isotopic methods devoted to the research of honey authenticity. For this purpose, 58 Chinese commercial honey samples from various origins were analyzed. The results indicated that the ranges of δ 13Choney and δ 13Cprotein of these samples were from −28.833 to −10.886 ‰ and −28.327 to −21.632 ‰, respectively. Interestingly, a very strong correlation was observed between δ 13Choney value and δ 13Cprotein value of pure honey. Moreover, δ 2H values of the honey samples were calculated between −156.725 and −170.029 ‰. The comprehensive procedure has advantages over existing methods in terms of time and sensitivity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by science and technology project of Quality and Technical Supervision of Guangdong Province (2011ZS01) and science and technology plan project of Guangzhou City (2011 J2200016). At the same time, the authors would like to thank all the workers for sampling, sample preparation, and measurement.

Conflict of Interest

Donghui Luo declares that he has no conflict of interest. Haiying Luo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Hao Dong declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yanping Xian declares that she has no conflict of interest. Xindong Guo declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yuluan Wu declares that she has no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Guangzhou Quality Supervision and Testing Institute, National Centre for Quality Supervision and Testing of Processed Food (Guangzhou), No. 1 Zhujiang Road, Chaotian Industrial Zone, Panyu District, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

      Donghui Luo, Haiying Luo, Hao Dong, Yanping Xian, Xindong Guo & Yuluan Wu

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    1. Donghui Luo
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    2. Haiying Luo
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    3. Hao Dong
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    Correspondence to Hao Dong.

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    Donghui Luo and Haiying Luo contributed equally to this work.

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    Luo, D., Luo, H., Dong, H. et al. Hydrogen (2H/1H) Combined with Carbon (13C/12C) Isotope Ratios Analysis to Determine the Adulteration of Commercial Honey. Food Anal. Methods 9, 255–262 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-015-0202-y

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