Purity and quality of selected Malaysian honeys / Nur Sakinah Razali

Pure honey is extensively well known to possess vanous health benefits while adulterated honey was proven to adversely cause many health complications. Therefore, this study was primarily designed to investigate the purity and quality of selected commercial Malaysian honeys. The honey samples involved in this study include 10 test samples which were obtained commercially around the area of Selangor and four reference samples as control samples which were scientifically proven to be pure and fake honey. All the samples were tested with physicochemical test to determine the purity of the honey samples. Then, the samples were tested with the traditional methods which were traditionally believed to be able to distinguish pure honey from fake honey. The results acquired from the traditional methods were compared to the physicochemical results to determine the reliability of the traditional methods to be used as a benchmark in determining the purity of honey. The results of the study indicated that Sample 05 and Sample 10 had shown positive results in most of the tests conducted and there were two traditional methods which had shown significant results as compared to the physicochemical tests. Thus, this study proposed that, further in the future, more supplementary test should be conducted to prove the purity of Sample 05 and Sample 10 and the two traditional methods; heating a spoonful of honey and storage of honey in the refrigerator should be more extensively investigated to confirm the reliability in determining the purity and quality of honey.