Main indicators of honey quality and their relationships

Harmonization of product quality requirements contributes to increasing the competitiveness of domestic honeys on foreign markets. The purpose of the research was to establish the main quality indicators of honey samples of various botanical origins in accordance with the requirements of national regulatory documents. The material of the research was 115 samples of acacia, linden, buckwheat honey, sunflower and various herb honey. Sampling of honey and analysis of organoleptic indicators, honey color and moisture content, diastase and proline content, acidity was carried out in accordance with DSTU 4497: 2005. According to the results of organoleptic tests, it was found that in terms of color, taste, aroma, consistency, all samples met the requirements of regulatory documentation, as well as in terms of physicochemical parameters: the average values of the mass fraction of water for acacia honey 17.7 ± 1.2 %, linden – 17.5 ± 1.0 %, buckwheat honey – 18.6 ± 0.5 %, sunflower honey – 17.1 ± 3.5 %, herb honey – 17.8 ± 1.0 %; the value of the diastase number in different types of honey is from 5.05 to 57.3 Goethe units. Among the analyzed honey samples, 7 samples of acacia honey had the lowest enzymatic activity (from 5.05 to 11.92 units Goethe); content electrical conductivity of acacia honey 0.1 ± 0.01 mS/cm, linden – 0.5 ± 0.1 mS/cm, buckwheat honey – 0.4 ± 0.1 mS/cm, sunflower honey – 0.3 ± 0.0 mS/cm, honey from different herbs – 0.3 ± 0.0 mS/cm; the content of free acids was: acacia honey – 25.4±5.8 meq/kg, linden honey – 26.4 ± 3.9 meq/kg, buckwheat honey – 33.1 ± 3.0 meq/kg, sunflower honey – 26.5 ± 5.3 meq/kg, honey from different herbs – 26,7 ± 5.9 meq/kg. The results of the study of 115 samples of honey of different botanical origin according to organoleptic and physicochemical indicators meet the requirements of regulatory documents.