This study compared the capabilities of three spectroscopic techniques as fast screening platforms for honey authentication purposes. Multifloral honeys were collected in the three main honey-producing regions of Argentina over four harvesting seasons to give a total of 502 samples. Spectra were run on each of the samples with FT-MIR ( Fourier transform mid-infrared), NIR (near infrared) and FT-Raman (Fourier transform Raman) spectroscopy. The spectroscopic platforms were compared on the basis of the classification performance achieved under a supervised chemometric approach. Very good classification scores to distinguish the three Argentian regions were achieved by all the spectroscopies, and a nearly perfect classification was provided by FT-MIR. The results obtained in the present work suggested that FT-MIR had the best potential for fingerprinting-based honey authentication, and demonstrated that sufficient accuracy levels to be commercially useful can be reached.
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