Manuka honey is high value food because of its anti-bacterial properties, and hence it is often open to adulteration. New Zealand researchers have developed a new method based on using 4 chemical and 2 DNA markers that can authenticate monofloral and multifloral NZ Manuka honey and distinguish then from non-Manuka honey, Australian Manuka honey and honey from Leptospermum spp.
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Manuka honey, harvested from the manuka bush, Leptospermum scoparium, is New Zealand's most recognised honey type and commands a premium due to health‐related benefits. Reverse Phase‐HPLC revealed that manuka honey contains distinct compounds, which were relatively enriched, and not present in the other New Zealand monofloral honeys. These compounds were analysed by mass spectrometry and NMR, and identified as Leptosperin and Lepteridine, which are a methyl syringate glycoside and pteridine derivative, respectively. Examination of these compounds revealed unique fluorescence signatures. This fluorescence could be detected in manuka honey samples, and the signal used to confirm that a honey was solely or predominantly consisted of L. scoparium nectar.
The chapter is open access at: Manuka honey authenticity by fluorescence
