Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of honey obtained through sugar feeding of bees

Abstract

This study was planned to characterize the physicochemical and antioxidant properties, and microbiological quality of honey obtained from the sandbar pumpkin field. In this study, four sugar supplemented and one control (without sugar fed) honey sample was used. Results revealed that all samples exhibited appropriate maturity considering their low moisture content (* 19%) and high total solids (* 80%) and TSS (* 79%). Total acidity (\ 40 meq/kg) and pH (* 4.5) directed the absenteeism of detrimental fermentation. Ash (* 0.29%) and electrical conductivity (* 700 lS/cm) were reasonable and distinctive of dark yellowish-brown honey, which is buttressed by color attributes. Reducing sugars, glucose, fructose, and sucrose values ranged from 68.98 to 75.82%, 26.01 to 33.84%, 34.93 to 38.70%, and 1.74 to 5.96%, respectively. Proline (* 400 mg/kg), HMF (\ 40 mg/kg) and diastase action (* 14°Gothe) were found within accepted limits, and also possesses good antioxidants in terms of total phenol (* 160 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoid (4.67-6.25 mg CE/100 g), and DPPH-RSA (30.65-35.97%). The microbial study revealed that the total viable count ranged between 33.33 and 27.66 CFU/g, while yeasts and mold count varied between 14.33 and 12 CFU/g. Principle component analysis (PCA) results revealed that all the studied parameters could be used effectively to discriminate the honey sample. The overall results signpost a new information regarding the quality i.e. processing, maturity, freshness and composition of honey obtained from the sandbar pumpkin field.

Antibacterial potential of hive bees honey from Himachal Pradesh, India

“…Honey's microbiological quality indicates the hygienic conditions of its handling, processing and storage. The bacterial and fungal contamination in honey is an indication of non-hygienic conditions during collection, processing, manipulation, handling and storage (Tchoumboue et al 2007).Bacterial load associated with the hive bees honey in the present investigation was comparatively higher than documented by Kamal et al (2019), where total viable count of microorganisms in analysed honey samples varied from 1.44 to 1.52 log CFU/g. Likewise, Babarinde et al (2011) reported that the total viable count of microorganisms in the analysed honey samples varied from 2.9 to 3.1 log CFU/g.…”

“…Conversely, the figure reported (< 10 5 CFU/g) for bacterial count in the current study might be due to the bee keeping practices applied during harvesting of honey. Also, the environmental conditions of the selected locations might contribute to the microbial contamination (Kamal et al 2019).…”

The Influence of Chemical Contaminants on the Physicochemical Properties of Unifloral and Multifloral Honey

“…Diastase activity of honey ranged from 6.02° to 21.99° Göthe [ 176 ]. Kamal et al [ 177 ] reported values of diastase activity ranging from 12.63° to 16.33° Göthe for five honey samples harvested from Bangladesh. Khalafi et al [ 178 ] reported values of diastase activity between 5.8° and 21.3° Göthe for ten types of honey.…”

Comparison of the Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Mature and Immature Honey: An HPLC/QTOF/MS-Based Metabolomic Approach

“…18 Therefore, early harvest of the immature honey leads to high moisture content. 19 High water content increases the possibility of honey being fermented during long storage periods. 20 The average water content of our MH samples (18.31 ± 1.52 g per 100 g) were below the required threshold standard of the European Regulations of Quality (no more than 20 g per 100 g).…”