Aim: Honey is not always a safe product and in some instances it is spoiled by the growth of micro-organisms. The aim of the study was to characterize honey on biological and physicochemical basis. Study Design: Determination of the microbial loads in the Sudanese honey brands and characterization of their physicochemical properties. Methodologies: Several microbiological tests were employed for the determination of the microbial loads. The methods of Association of the Official Analytical Chemists were employed for the physicochemical properties. Results: The microbiological tests were negative for Escherichia coli, and total coliforms (mpn/ml). Few honey brands contained Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, yeasts and moulds. The maximum total viable bacteria count was > 3.77 log. cfu/ml. The results of the physical parameters tested were as follows: pH 3.6, specific gravity 1.2, viscosity 120.7 Poise, and refractive index 1.4., moisture 18.2%, acidity 54.2 (meq/kg), total sugars 70.5%, fructose 32.1%, glucose 32.8%, and sucrose 5.5%. Conclusion:The physicochemical properties of the investigated samples comply with the Codex Alimintarius Standards for honey. However, some honey brands contained yeasts, moulds, as well as some pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium botulinum. Thus the study justified the importance of the proper

Honey is not always a safe product and in some instances it is spoiled by the growth of micro-organisms. In this study Sudanese honey brands were investigated for the presence/absence of pathogenic and non pathogenic micro-organisms as well as the physic-chemical properties of honey. The aim of the study was to characterize honey on biological and physic-chemical basis. Several microbiological tests and the AOAC methods were employed. The results of microbiological tests were negative for Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, and total coliforms (mpn/ml). Few honey brands contained Clostridium botulinum, Staphylococcus aureus, yeasts and moulds. The maximum total viable bacteria count was > 6000 cfu/ml. The results of the physical properties of the tested honey were as follows: pH 3.6, specific gravity 1.2, viscosity 120.7 Poise, and refractive index 1.4. For the chemical composition were: moisture 18.2, acidity 54.2 (meq/kg), total sugars 70.5 %, fructose 32.1 %, glucose 32.8 %, and sucrose 5.5 %. These results suggest the needs for improved methods for honey collection, processing and safety handling.