A utilização da espectroscopia UV-Vis como alternativa para detecção de adulteração em mel

Abstract

Due to the great biodiversity of the Amazon region, various natural resources are found and consequently exploited through plant extraction. Among these products is honey, a nutritious, medicinal, and highly valuable substance. Since it is a product with a low initial cost compared to other agricultural practices, it is subject to adulteration, mainly by adding commercial sugars. Thus, the main objective of this work was to verify whether UV-Vis spectroscopy is an alternative for detecting honey adulteration, aiming to address the following problem: can UV-Vis spectroscopy be used as an alternative to detect honey adulteration? From this, the justification arises, which consists of ensuring the authenticity of the marketed honey and the health of consumers by investigating how UV-Vis spectroscopy can detect adulterations quickly and accurately, proposing a simple method for identifying honey adulteration. With this, the following methodology was used: three types of pure stingless bee honey were collected in the city of Coari-AM, one of unknown nature, one from Uruçu bee (Melipona Scutellaris), and one from Jataí bee (Tetragonisca Angustula). For experimental analyses, 1.0g and 0.5g of honey were considered, diluted in 30g of distilled water. Subsequently, specific amounts of commercial sugar were added to each honey, which were then analyzed using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer in the regions from 200nm to 600nm. Through the analyses, we obtained the following results: spectra of both honey diluted only in distilled water and mixtures of honey, sugar, and distilled water. From the spectra, we could directly identify and distinguish pure honey from that adulterated with commercial sugar because the spectra diverged from one another. Additionally, by performing some mathematical analyses, we were able to find an equation for each type of honey that best represents the experimental data, given by y = a + bx, where y is the adjustment function, a is the linear coefficient, b is the angular coefficient, and x is the sugar proportion relative to the analyzed honey. Thus, it can be concluded that it is possible to identify honey adulteration with commercial sugar using UV-Vis spectroscopy, a technique that will help identify small adulterations quickly and non-destructively, utilizing physical, mathematical, and scientific knowledge.