DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTROANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR THE DETERMINATION OF FURFURAL IN HONEYS: AN INDICATOR OF QUALITY IN PRODUCTION AND FOOD SAFETY

Furfural is a cyclic aldehyde found in foods due to hydrolysis reactions of pentoses under acidic conditions and high temperatures. Honey, which is rich in pentoses and organic acids, naturally contains furfural, and high levels can arise due to excessive heating and prolonged storage, as well as being indicative of adulteration with sugar syrup. Therefore, the determination of furfural content can be used to assess the quality of honey and detect inadequate practices or fraud in production.
In this work, an efficient, accessible and rapid methodology was developed for detecting traces of furfural in honeys. Electroanalytical techniques were used as an alternative to chromatographic techniques, which are recommended by the International Honey Commission (IHC) for the analysis of furanic compounds in honeys. The use of electroanalytical techniques in food analysis minimizes the need for sample preparation steps and makes it possible to carry out analyses at lower cost, with shorter execution times, which are environmentally friendly and result in high sensitivity and good selectivity, depending on the sensor used.
the square wave voltammetry technique was used to study the electroreduction and electrooxidation reactions of furfural on a solid silver amalgam electrode. Experimental and voltammetric conditions were optimized, resulting in well-defined, sensitive and selective voltammetric peaks, with a linear dynamic detection range of 0.15 to 9.50 nmol L-1. The calibration curves were linearized using the logistic regression function, which made it possible to calculate analytical parameters such as detection and quantification limits, reproducibility, repeatability and recovery efficiency.
This methodology was successfully applied to the determination of furfural in commercial honeys from the region of Patos de Minas, MG. This highlights the usefulness of electroanalytical techniques as an effective approach to monitoring the quality and authenticity of food products, guaranteeing their safety after processing.