Multielemental characterization of honey using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry fused with chemometrics

Abstract

Honey is considered a desirable ingredient in a range of different foodstuffs because of its nutrient and therapeutic effect. The honey characteristics mainly depend on the type of vegetation visited by the bees and the climatic conditions in which the plants are growing. Therefore, the purity, floral and geographical origin and authenticity are important factors influencing the overall perception of honey and honey‐based products in terms of quality and price. An important parameter in this picture is the elemental composition of honey because it can be linked with the floral type of honey, floral plant density and the botanical origin of nectar and pollens. In this work, the concentration range variation of 18 elements (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, K, Pb, Sr, Ti, V and Zn) was investigated in four varieties of honey (linden, acacia, rape, and sunflower) originating from Romania, because the elemental profile of honey may give important information to differentiate its geographical and varietal origin for authenticity purpose. All the determinations were carried out by inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP‐Q‐MS). The most abundant minerals decreased in the following order: K > Ca > Mg > Na, having the mean values of 248.70, 59.97, 20.54 and 11.92 mg kg−1, respectively. The mineral content marks the differences in honey samples from different botanical origin and can be used as a tool for authentication purposes and also extends its applicability to assess the traceability of honey. Analysis of variance showed the preliminary relationships between the elements and samples. Further, the discrimination between different studied honey samples was achieved by principal component analysis (PCA).The multivariate analysis of the data allowed us to separate the honey samples into distinct groups according to their macroelement and microelement composition, emphasizing the origin of variation of element concentrations by honey type. Therefore, this approach might be potentially useful for the control of honey quality, origin or authenticity, and even to use the honey as environmental tracer.

Determination of halogens and sulfur in honey: a green analytical method using a single analysis

“…Furthermore, the combination of the MIC method, for sample preparation, and the IC-CD-MS technique, for the determination of the analytes, provides an analytical tool that corroborates to the green analytical chemistry principles. That is, in the MIC, only diluted alkaline solutions in small volumes were used, to retain the analytes, instead of high amounts of concentrated acids, commonly employed to decompose organic matrixes [32,33]. Moreover, small quantities of waste in the chromatograph used in this study were generated, since the use of any acid to regenerate the suppressor unit (electrolytically regenerated with external water mode) was not necessary.…”

Effectiveness of Different Sample Treatments for the Elemental Characterization of Bees and Beehive Products

“…Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS) has been often employed for the low-cost and rapid determination of high concentrations of metals [ 21 , 22 , 28 ]. To control the quality of honey and other beehive products in terms of contamination by heavy metals, many sensitive techniques are required, including graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry (GF-AAS) [ 17 , 19 ], electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) [ 29 , 30 ], microwave plasma technique atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES) [ 31 ], inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) [ 14 , 16 , 24 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) [ 14 , 18 , 20 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. In addition, other atomic techniques, such as atomic analyzer mercury (AMA), hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS) and cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CV-AFS), have been employed in environmental studies for the determination of Hg, As and Se [ 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Samples of honey and other beehive products are commonly decomposed using high temperature dry ashing [ 17 , 50 ] or wet digestion procedures, in order to destroy the carbohydrate-rich sample matrix and minimize the matrix-based interferences [ 21 , 22 ]. To obtain an efficient honeybee and beehive products digestion, various reagents or mixtures are used, including concentrated HNO 3 or other acids (such as HCl, HClO 4 and H 2 SO 4 ), frequently mixed with 30% H 2 O 2 , using open vessels or sealed quartz or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) vessels in microwave-assisted systems [ 21 , 22 , 35 , 38 , 39 ]. Unfortunately, to date the validation of methods and procedures used for the analysis of bees and beehive products is difficult because no certified reference material (CRM) of these matrices is available.…”

Selected Instrumental Techniques Applied in Food and Feed: Quality, Safety and Adulteration Analysis

“…Hungerford and coworkers [ 194 ] analyzed n = 212 samples and found differences among honey from urban, peri-urban, and rural locations. Mineral profiling alone and in conjunction with carbon isotopic ratios have been used to assess honey authenticity [ 192 , 195 , 200 ]. The above results demonstrate that honey samples’ botanical origin, from mineral profiling, demands a multiplicity of descriptive and inferential statistical and other chemometric analysis [ 200 ].…”