Application of UV–Vis spectroscopy for the detection of adulteration in Mediterranean honeys

The present study aimed to identify adulteration of honey with sugar syrups and colorants using UV–Vis spectroscopy, combined with multivariate statistical analysis. A total of 209 honeys were used, including 151 commercial honey samples (thyme, pine, and polyfloral honeys) collected from different countries of Mediterranean (Greece, Malta, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey) and 58 adulterated Greek thyme honey samples by adding syrups and colorants. Honey adulteration was identified using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) along with Random Forest (RF), Partial Least Squares – Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), and Data Driven-Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogies (DD-SIMCA) using the spectral range of 220–550 nm. Comparatively, DD-SIMCA models produced better results in terms of accuracy and sensitivity in most cases evaluated. The results support the good predictive capability of UV–Vis spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for the determination of honey adulteration, and thus, it could be utilized as a rapid, inexpensive, and simple method.