HONEY MARKETED IN THE MARKETS OF THE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CATOLE DO ROCHA, PARAÍBA STATE, BRAZIL

Abstract

The honey is a natural product utilized as a food source or therapeutic and it is easily accessible to the population, being importante to stablish the quality of these consumer purchased products. The demand of honey consumption has been increasing, thereby the number of merchants that tamper the product in at least on of its physicochemical features has increased. In this context, this work had the objective of evaluating the quality of honey marketed in supermarkets of the municipality of Catolé do Rocha, Paraíba. Three honey samples were collected, one belonging from the county and two from São Paulo and Piauí states. The following parameters were determined: ashes, acidity, Lugol test, color and the Activity of water (Aw). The determinations were made in triplicates. The results showed mean values varying from 0,010% to 0,35% on ash content; 33,58 mEq/kg to 54,88 mEq/kg of total acidity; 3,58 to 4,6 on pH and 0,606 to 0,650 on Aw and Lugol test, in wich the honey presented according values with the standards of legislation, except for one sample of honey that presented acidity above the allowed for honeys. The values of L* (37,28; lightness) and b* (8,00; yellow tendency) shows that one of the samples presented darker coloration than the others, while the other samples presented lighter shades of yellow. It was concluded that only one of the samples was in discordance with the acidity levels, passing 10 to 15% of the recommended. The remaining samples were found to comply with the legislation.