Comparing the effects of gamma irradiation and thermal processing on unavoidable toxic substances in Egyptian honey

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Regional Centre for Food and Feed (RCFF), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), EGYPT

2 Food Irradiation Dept., National Centre for Radiation Research &Technology, EGYPT

Abstract

Honey is usually subjected to heating before commercialization which poses risks for Maillard reactions to take place. The formed Maillard reaction producs (MRPs) in honey may generate a small amount of harmful substance such as 5- hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), Acrylamide (AA) and furan. Therefore, in the present study we tried to use 1- low heating temperature (800C) for two different periods (30 min and 60 min) and 2- low doses of γ-irradiation (5.0,10.0 and 15.0kGy) in an attempt for keeping quality of honey besides mitigation these MRPs toxic materials. Honey samples were subjected to different analysis including: microbiological analysis; AA, furan and HMF; elements and heavy metals and antioxidant capacity. The results of the microbiological analysis showed that raw Egyptian honey samples had low load of microbes. The total bacteria counts (TBC) were very low (1x104 ±0.4). Whereas Total Spores (TS) were present at 4x102 CFU/g and samples were fungi free .The γ-irradiation eliminated microbes partially at 5.0 kGy and eliminated all microbes completely at a dose of 10 kGy. Concerning, the chemical analysis, three toxic substances were determined as AA, furan by GC-MS in raw honey, these compounds changed after treatments either with γ-irradiation or thermal process. HMF was absent in raw honey sample but it was increased clearly after all treatments. AA and furan were decreased by irradiation and thermal process. The advantages for γ-irradiation was its ability to enhance the total phenols ,antioxidants and flavonoids of honey to high concentrations which adds good quality and more health benefits of irradiated honey (especially at 5.0 and 10 kGy) .The results also proved the presence of 10 trace elements Copper (Cu,) chromium (Cr), Boron(B), Cadmium (Cd), Cobalt (Co), Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Thallium (Tl), Iron(Fe) Magnesium (Mg), Phosphorus (P), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Aluminum (Al), Barium(Ba) though their concentrations were within the permissible limits of WHO. From the results obtained during the present work, it could be recommended that using low dose (5-kGy or 10kGy ) of γ- irradiation as safe alternative of using harmful thermal processing is a good solution to reduce the toxic and enhancing the quality of honey.

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