Physico-chemical quality assessment of honey from different floral and geographical origin

Abstract

Honey is a natural product made by bees from the nectar of flowers, the secretions of living plants and excretions of plant-sucking insects. The ever-increasing demand for natural honey amplifying the risk of fraud, affecting the livelihood of communities negatively. From a legislative point of view, the South African government is currently concerned about labelling, which might be false, misleading or deceptive. Hence, food authenticity and traceability have become important issues in food testing. The Agricultural Product Standards (APS) Act, 1990 (Act No 119 of 1990), Regulation No R. 835 of 25 August 2000 was used to evaluate the quality of honey on the South African market. Food safety monitoring is the mechanism which is used to evaluate the quality of food products on a continuously basis. Furthermore, to support the food safety status of honey production and supply, effective national food control systems are essential.