DNA-based methods as a powerful tool for the entomological authentication of honey

Honey is a food widely consumed worldwide and much appreciated for its nutritional, organoleptic and health properties. However, it is also considered one of the food products most prone to be adulterated in the EU. Up until now, honey authenticity addressed mainly the issue of sugars addition and botanical origin. Still, increased attention has recently been paid to honey entomological origin as it also relates to its geographical origin since honeybees carrying mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of distinct ancestries can be found across Europe. While in Portugal mtDNA of the autochthonous subspecies Apis mellifera iberiensis belongs to the African (A) lineage, in the northeastern part of Iberia African mitotypes are replaced by mitotypes of western European (M-lineage) ancestry. The native distribution of the M-lineage A. m. mellifera expands from the Pyrenees to Scandinavia and from the British Isles to the Ural Mountains while the C-lineage A. m. ligustica and A. m. carnica subspecies are naturally found in the Apennine and Balkan peninsulas, respectively [1]. Also, certain honeys holding the protected designation of origin (PDO) label should be produced by autochthonous A. mellifera subspecies, as mentioned in their EU geographical indications register.PAN 2020-2022, financed by IFAP. To the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), to Fenapícola and Capemel for supplying the Portuguese honeys, to Dr. Antonio Nanetti (CREA-AA) for the Italian honeys and to António Pajuelo (Pajuelo Consultores Apícolas S.L.) for the Spanish honeys. D. Henriques is supported by the project BeeHappy (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029871) funded by FEDER, COMPETE 2020-POCI and FCT. M. Honrado, A.R. Lopes, A. Quaresma acknowledge the PhD scholarship funded by the FCT (2021.08119.BD, SFRH/BD/143627/2019 and DFA/BD/5155/2020). projeto AUTENT+ "Desenvolvimento de abordagens inovadoras com vista à valorização e exploração do potencial de mercado do mel Português", PAN 2020-2022, financiado pelo IFAP.