Physicochemical and biological properties of honey samples from Melipona beecheii Bennett collected in Hopelchén, Campeche

Resumen

Objective: To determine the physicochemical and biological parameters of Melipona beecheii honey produced in the state of Campeche, as the basis for a future proposal for the establishment of an official Mexican standard for Melipona honey.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Samples of Melipona beecheii honey from the community of Hopelchén, Campeche, were analyzed. The results showed an acid honey with 3.89±0.13 pH, 49.85±1.74 free acidity, 68.09±2.12 total acidity, 76.95% °Brix, 21.38% humidity, 6.43±0.84 HMF, 8.58±0.25 diastase index, and 187.33±7.9 color intensity.

Results: The honey had a low phenolic (28.45±1.14 mgEAG/kg) and flavonoid (0.072±0.01 mg/kg) content. The low phenolic content interfered with the antioxidant activity, revealing an EC50 of 0.76. The honey showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomona aeruginosa, and Pseudomonas syringae. A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the chromatographic profiles of the honey; the said profiles were evaluated by chemometrics to classify the honey, according to the similarity of the chromatographic profiles.

Study Limitations/Implications: Despite being produced at a close distance from each other, the great variability among the small number of samples from the state of Campeche requires the characterization of the honeys by geographic zones.

Findings/Conclusions: The parameters determined in this study help to understand the variability in values, which is crucial for establishing quality and authenticity standards for honey. These standards will not only be applied to honey produced by the M. beecheii species, which is widely used in southeastern Mexico, but also to other types of honey.