Conventional and emergent technologies for honey processing: A perspective on microbiological safety, bioactivity, and quality uri icon

abstract

  • Honey is a natural food of worldwide economic importance. Over the last decades, its potential for food, medical, cosmetical, and biotechnological applications has been widely explored. One of the major safety issues regarding such applications is its susceptibility to being contaminated with bacterial and fungi spores, including pathogenic ones, which may impose a hurdle to its consumption in a raw state. Another factor that makes this product particularly challenging relies on its high sugar content, which will lead to the formation of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) when heated (due to Maillard reactions). Moreover, honey’s bioactivity is known to be affected when it goes through thermal processing due to its unstable and thermolabile components. Therefore, proper food processing methodologies are of utmost importance not only to ensure honey safety but also to provide a high-quality product with low content of HMF and preserved biological properties. As so, emerging food processing technologies have been employed to improve the safety and quality of raw honey, allowing, for example, to reduce/avoid the exposure time to high processing temperatures, with consequent impact on the formation of HMF. This review aims to gather the literature available regarding the use of conventional and emergent food processing technologies (both thermal and nonthermal food processing technologies) for honey decontamination, preservation/enhancement of honey biological activity, as well as the sensorial attributes.
  • Thanks are due to the University of Aveiro and FCT/MCT for the financial support for the LAQV/REQUIMTE and CIMO research Units (FCT UID/QUI/50006/2020 and UIDB/00690/2020, respectively) through national funds and, where applicable, co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, and to the Portuguese NMR Network. The authors Hana Scepankova and Carlos A. Pinto would like to thank also FCT/MCT for the Ph.D. grants (SFRH/BD/88133/2012 and SFRH/BD/137036/2018).

publication date

  • October 2021