Microbiological and physicochemical analysis of yateí (Tetragonisca angustula) honey for assessing quality standards and commercialization

Abstract

Due to the interest in the production and trading of yateí (Tetragonisca angustula) honey in the province of Misiones, Argentina, in this work we assessed microbiological and physicochemical parameters in order to contribute to the elaboration of standards for quality control and promote commercialization. Results showed that yateí honey samples had significantly different microbiological and physicochemical characteristics in comparison to established quality standards for Apis mellifera honey. Thus, we observed that values for pH (3.72), glucose (19.01 g/100g) and fructose (23.74 g/100g) were lower than A. mellifera quality standards, while acidity (79.42 meq/kg), moisture (24%), and mould and yeast count (MY) (3.02 log CFU/g) were higher. The acid content was correlated with glucose (R2=0.75) and fructose (R2=0.68) content, and also with mould and yeast counts (R2=0.45) to a lesser extent. The incidence of microorganisms in yateí honey samples reached 42.85% and 39% for Clostridium sulfite-reducers and Bacillus spp., respectively. No C. botulinum or B. cereus cells were detected. Enterococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. incidence was similar (ca. 7.14%), whereas Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. were not detected. We conclude that the microbiological and physicochemical properties of yateí honey are different from those of A. mellifera honey; hence, different quality standards could be implemented to promote its commercialization.

Microbiological quality of honey from stingless bee, jandaíra (Melipona subnitida), from the semiarid region of Brazil

“…All samples tested were negative for Salmonella spp., in agreement with other studies evaluating the honey from SB (MONTE et al, 2013;PUCCIARELLI et al, 2014). Some studies have shown the antibacterial effect of honey, and the honey from SB in particular, against a wide range of bacteria, including Salmonella (PIMENTEL et al, 2013;NISHIO et al, 2016).…”

“…in the honey from SB is rare. Equipment and physical honey handling are considered the main sources of contamination by this microorganism (DÜMEN et al, 2013;PUCCIARELLI et al, 2014). In addition, the antimicrobial activities of honey against grampositive bacteria, specifically Staphylococcus spp., were also evaluated.…”

“…botulinum type C and C. perfringens type A were detected through PCR in 2.8% and 40.0% of samples, respectively. PUCCIARELLI et al (2014) reported that 64% of the samples tested positive for Clostridium spp. in the honey from SB.…”

Microorganisms in Honey

“…Potato glucose agar in Brazil was also used for monitoring the honey contamination by yeast and fungi [144]. Standard plate count agar is used for monitoring of mesophilic bacteria, such as that was done in honey samples of Portugal [141,142] and Argentina [119,145].…”

Peer Review #3 of "Characterisation of bacteria isolated from the stingless bee, Heterotrigona itama, honey, bee bread and propolis (v0.2)"

“…Some Bacillus species associated with stingless bees were isolated from Melipona panamica (B. alvei and B. circulans) and Trigona necrophaga (B. circulans, B. licheniformis, B. megaterium, B. pumilus and B. subtilis) nests in Panama (Gilliam, 1997). Moreover, other bacterial genera including Streptomyces (Promnuan, Kudo & Chantawannakul, 2009), Clostridium, Staphylococcus, Enterobacter (Pucciarelli et al, 2014), Ralstonia, Pantoea, Neisseria, Pseudomonas (Leonhardt & Kaltenpoth, 2014), Lysinibacillus (Shanks et al, 2017) and Fructobacillus (Yaacob et al, 2018) also have be found associated with stingless bees.…”