Honey authentication using intrinsic DNA markers and metabolic fingerprint

Honey is a completely natural product included in human diet for thousands of years. Honey's popularity in the UK is increasing continuously but domestic production covers ~14% of demand. Therefore, c40,000 tonnes of honey are imported annually (Eurostat, 2015). Demand for premium monofloral honeys is increasing (annual growth rate 5-15%) driven by flavour and perceived health benefits. Evidence on the effectiveness of honey for relieving symptoms in upper respiratory tract infections further support this view[1].

UK bee farmers are striving to produce their own monofloral honeys, with heather honey being the most important. Heather honey has rich phytochemical content and is considered comparable to New Zealand's manuka honey in terms of health benefits. However, research into the chemical composition and bioactivity of heather honey is sparse. In addition, the quality characteristics of heather honey are not well defined, making authentication difficult. The main method for botanical origin determination is melissopalinology (pollen counting) which requires high specialisation and is not always reliable[2].

Another major challenge facing the honey industry worldwide is adulteration. Honey was among the top ten foods most at risk of adulteration in a list published by the EU (2013). At present, there is no single method for authenticity testing for honey and the majority of the tests are time-consuming and expensive.

Modern techniques including spectroscopic methods have been applied successfully on honey authentication studies in other countries[3]. Preliminary results acquired from the Bioinformatics group at Cranfield University (unpublished) have also highlighted the promising potential of sensor technology, for honey characterisation. Newly emerging techniques have also focused on the discovery of metabolic and/or DNA biomarkers in honey using techniques such as HPLC and RT-PCR respectively for the botanical characterisation of honey and adulteration detection[3]. This approach has yielded promising results in the case of manuka honey[4]. Previous studies have proposed some biomarkers for heather honey in other European countries, such as abscisic acid, ellagic acid and isophorone5, but these markers are not unique to the botanical source and tend to differ between studies. Further research is required to deliver a reliable method for heather honey authentication.

Hypothesis: We hypothesise that intrinsic DNA markers and metabolic fingerprint/biomarkers in honey and floral sources can be paired with artificial intelligence to develop novel methods for simultaneous botanical origin identification and adulteration detection in UK heather honey.