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Analysis of δ13C and δ15N values in Croatian honey by EA–IRMS and possibility of their application in botanical origin verification

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to give characteristic stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio (δ13Choney, δ13Cprotein and δ15N) ranges and examine their relation with botanical origin of honey. Despite that δ13C parameter has primary purpose to detect honey adulteration, stable isotopes generally have become important parameter for detection its botanical and geographical origin. The data about stable isotopes are scarce in comparison to other well-known parameters in honey, and in Croatia there is no data about stable isotopes in unifloral honey. This research includes six characteristic honey types (black locust, chestnut, lime, rape, winter savory, and sage honey) from Croatia. Large number of differences between honey types were found in the analyzed IRMS parameters. PCA analysis has successfully separated winter savory from all other honey types, except sage honey, whose samples differed from black locust samples.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

AOAC:

Association of official analytical collaboration (AOAC) international

BCR:

Community Bureau of reference

EA–IRMS:

Elemental analyser–isotope ratio mass spectrometer

EA/LC–IRMS:

Elemental analyser/liquid chromatography–isotope ratio mass spectrometer

IAEA-N:

International atomic energy agency

ICP–MS:

Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry

IRMS:

Isotope ratio mass spectrometry

ISCIRA:

Internal stable carbon isotope ratio analysis

KW test:

Kruskal–Wallis test

LC–MS:

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

MWW test:

Mann–Withney–Wilcoxon test

PCA:

Principal component analysis

PDB:

Peedee belemnite

SCIRA:

Stable carbon isotope ratio analysis

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Contributions

BBR: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Writing—original draft; IF: Writing—editing; Visualization; Conceptualization; Methodology; Resource; DMO: Writing—editing; Visualization; ŽT: Writing—editing; FČK: Writing—editing; LJP: Conceptualization; Writing—editing; Visualization; Methodology; Resource.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Blanka Bilić Rajs.

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Bilić Rajs, B., Flanjak, I., Milojković-Opsenica, D. et al. Analysis of δ13C and δ15N values in Croatian honey by EA–IRMS and possibility of their application in botanical origin verification. J Food Sci Technol 61, 939–949 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-023-05888-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-023-05888-9

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