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Young Researchers and Professionals
| Project leader |
Jerković Igor |
| Administering organization: |
Faculty of Chemistry and Technology, University of Split, N. Tesle 10/V, 21 000 Split, Croatia |
| Partner Institution/Company: |
Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology, University of Cagliari, via Ospedale 72, 09124 Cagliari, Italy; |
| Grant type: |
3A |
| Project title: |
Evaluation of Unifloral Honeys - Chemical Fingerprinting and Nutritional Properties |
| Project summary: |
The EU Commission encourages the development of analytical methods for the verification of compliance with the quality specifications for different honeys as excellent nutritional food. Assessment of honey botanical origin is of great concern, since authenticity guarantees its quality and economic value. The wide assortment of unifloral honeys is available as a result of production in different regions with specific climatic conditions and a wide range of floral sources (especially in Croatia with Mediterranean and continental climate), but with no determined chemical fingerprints or nutritional properties that is focus of this research project. Pollen microscopic analysis of collected samples will be used for botanical origin confirmation according to the National and EU regulations. As it is known, the volatile aroma profile is one of the most typical features of a food product, for both organoleptic quality and authenticity. Therefore, different extraction techniques will be employed in order to find the most suitable ones that enable honey volatiles isolation without artefacts formation. Isolated volatiles will be analysed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in order to determine new volatile fingerprints. Further extension of honey chemical fingerprints can be achieved by spectrophotometric (UV/VIS) and chromatographic (HPLC) methods, by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) or others. The obtained results will be compared to find possible similarities/differences among particular unifloral honeys. Special emphasis will be directed to find potential specific chemical biomarkers for botanical origin determination. From a nutritional point of view, many studies indicated that the antioxidant activity of honeys varies widely, depending on the floral source. Many different methods are appropriate for assessing the antioxidant activity and in most cases it is necessary to use several tests to obtain good reliability since there is no official method for honey antioxidant activity determination. Various tests can be used, each based on different principles and experimental conditions, such as FRAP assay (ferric reducing antioxidant power), DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) method, ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity), TEAC (Trolox equivalent antioxidant activity) and others. In addition, short term visits to Italian co-worker are planed for better transfer of knowledge to Croatia including implementation of different methods and data evaluation. This project promotes organic unifloral honeys as economically viable, ecologically and socially sound and sustainable food, particularly suitable for production in ecologically pure and less developed areas of Croatia. The obtained results could help labelling these food products with geographical origin protected status. |
| Hrvatski sažetak: |
Europska komisija potiče razvoj metoda za verifikaciju kvalitete različitih medova kao izvrsne nutricionističke hrane. Procjena botaničkog porijekla meda je od velikog interesa, budući autentičnost garantira njegovu kvalitetu i ekonomsku vrijednost. Veliki asortiman monoflornih medova je dostupan kao rezultat proizvodnje u različitim područjima sa specifičnim klimatskim uvjetima i širokim rasponom biljnih izvora (osobito u Hrvatskoj), ali bez određenih kemijskih značajki (profila) ili nutricionističkih svojstava, što je fokus ovog istraživanja. Mikroskopska analiza polena sakupljenih uzoraka će se koristiti za potvrdu botaničkog porijekla u skladu s nacionalnim i EU zakonodavstvom. Kao što je poznato, hlapljivi profil je jedan on najkarakterističnijih profila prehrambenih proizvoda za organoleptičku kvalitetu i autentičnost. Stoga će se različite ekstrakcijske tehnike koristiti kako bi se utvrdile najpogodnije koje omogućavaju izolaciju hlapljivih spojeva meda bez formiranja artefakata, a izolirani spojevi će se analizirati i identificirati (očekuju se terpeni, norizoprenoidi, fenilpropanski derivati i dr.). Moguće je daljnje proširivanje kemijskih profila odabranih uzoraka meda na nehlapljive spojeve (flavonoide i dr.). Dobiveni rezultati će se usporediti kako bi se pronašle moguće sličnosti/razlike između pojedinih medova. Poseban naglasak će biti na pronalaženju potencijalnih specifičnih kemijskih biomarkera za određivanje botaničkog porijekla. Sa nutricionističkog gledišta, mnoge studije su pokazale da antioksidacijska aktivnost medova varira znatno ovisno o biljnom izvoru. Mnoge različite metode su prikladne za procjenu antioksidacijske aktivnosti, pa je potrebno koristiti nekoliko testova kako bi se postigla dobra pouzdanost. Nadalje, u uzorcima se mogu odrediti i mikroelementi i elementi u tragovima, važni s nutricionističkog aspekta, ali i zbog kontrole kvalitete. Ovaj projekt promovira organske monoflorne medove kao ekonomski, ekološki i društveno održivu hranu, osobito pogodnu za proizvodnju u ekološki čistim i manje razvijenim dijelovima Hrvatske. |
| Amount requested from UKF: |
27.000 € |
| Amount of matching funding: |
14.500 € |
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