Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 2 Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bertam, Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 3 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
J Food Sci, 2023 Apr;88(4):1466-1481.
PMID: 36922718 DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.16535

Abstract

The popularity of Malaysian stingless bee honey is rising among health-conscious individuals; thus, chemical and physical evaluations of Malaysian stingless bee honey are vital to ensure the honey has achieved the optimum limits set by Malaysian and international regulatory standards so that it can be commercialized locally and internationally. Therefore, in the present study, the physicochemical characteristics (moisture content, total dissolved solids, pH, free acidity, electrical conductivity, and ash content), antioxidant properties (total phenolic and flavonoid contents), and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) of Heterotrigona itama (H. itama) honey from different sites in Peninsular Malaysia were investigated. Subsequently, the correlation between these chemical and physical parameters was studied using Spearman correlation coefficients. The significant difference between H. itama honey from different topographical origins was studied using univariate analysis (one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey's test). The discrimination pattern of 45 honey samples based on their topographical origins was evaluated using cluster analysis (heatmap and dendrogram) and chemometrics analysis (partial least squares-discriminant analysis). Results showed that some samples of certain parameters (electrical conductivity, free acidity, and moisture content) have exceeded the limit set by the international regulatory standard. However, the 5-HMF content of all samples was within the allowed range. A statistically significant difference (p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.