CHARACTERIZATION OF HONEY FROM MELIPONINAE AND APIS MELLIFERABEES

Ednei G. Primel (PQ)¹,Jean L.O. Arias (TC)¹,Sergiane C. Barbosa (PQ)¹, Andrea Begambre (PG)¹, Luanne R. Lima (IC)¹, Lucas C. Marcolin (PG) ¹* 

[email protected]; [email protected]

1Federal University of Rio Grande, School of Chemistry and Food. Avenida Itália, km 08, Carreiros, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil

Key words: Food, Honey, Legislation, Quality, Identity.

Honeycanbeproducedbyseveralspeciesofbees, includingbeesfromtheMeliponinaetribe, known as nativebeesthat do nothave a stingers, andfromthetribeofAfricanizedbeeswherethereis a predominanceoftheApismelliferaspeciesthathavestingers. The honeycompositionofthesespeciescanvary, anddependson some factorssuch as the floral andgeographicsource, climateandseason, processingandstorage (BONTÉ; DESMOULIÈRE, 2013, BRASIL, 2000). The presentworkaimstocharacterizethemitesoffivespeciesofstinglessbees (Meliponinae) andwithstingers (Apismellifera) fromthreemunicipalities in Rio Grande do Sul state. The parametersdeterminedwere pH, electricalconductivity, freeacidity, humidity, ashes, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)andsugarsfructose, glucose andsucrose

Table 1 presentstheresultsoftheidentityandqualityparametersofthehoney samples fromthreedifferentmunicipalities in thestateof RS.

Table 1 - Physico-chemicalcharacteristicsofhoney samples frombeesofthespeciesMeliponinaeandApismellifera

Values ​​expressed as mean ± standard deviation. a,b,c,d,e,f,g,hDifferent letters in the same column indicate significant differences between 
the means according to the Tukey test (p <0.05).  RG: Rio Grande; GR: Gravataí; IL: Ilópolis; HMF: Hydroxymethylfurfural; F: Fructose; 
G: Glucose; Apis m: Apis mellifera; % m/m: mass/mass percentage.

Based on Table 1, it canbeseenthathoneyfromMeliponinaebeespecieshashighermoisturecontentandlowerconcentrationofreducingsugars. Theseparameters, ifcomparedwiththeBrazilianlegislationestablished for Apismellifera, partiallymeetthequalitycharacteristics. In viewofthis, it isessentialthatthereisspecificlegislation for stinglessbees, facilitatingthecommercializationandenhancementofthemeliponicultureactivity in our country.

BONTÉA, F.; DESMOULIÈREB, A. Le miel: origine et composition, Honey: origin and composition. ActualitésPharmaceutiques, v. 52, n. 531, p. 18–21, 2013.

BRAZIL. MinistryofAgriculture, LivestockandSupply. NormativeInstruction No. 11, ofOctober 20, 2000. TechnicalRegulationonHoneyIdentityandQuality. MAPA, Brasília, DF, October 20, 2000.

The authorsacknowledgethe financial supportgrantedbytheBrazilian agencies FAPERGS, CNPq and FINEP andfellowshipsgrantedby CAPES.