C13 (C4 Sugar) Analysis

Examples of C4 plants include maize, sorghum, sugarcane, millet and turnip. These plants have natural sugar, but become toxic when used to make sugar syrup by harsh processes. Honey additive happens using these toxic sugar syrups. Whereas, natural honey comes from bees.

Honey is a natural product and has been famous for its great therapeutic potential since ancient times. In addition, honey is a widely used excellent food. In this respect, honey, which is a human food, must be pure and free of additives. On the other hand, the increase in demand for honey has caused mixing of different sugar syrups. Therefore, quality is important for consumer confidence. The main sugar syrup encountered in honey samples is C4 plant sugars.

Honey is sometimes mixed with low-cost sugars. 13C/12C ratio,

• Between -3 and -22δ per thousand in honey obtained from C33 plants,
• -4 to -10δ per thousand in honey obtained from C20 plants
• It is between -11 and -13.5δ per thousand in honey obtained from Crassulacean acid metabolism plants.

When C4 sugar is added to pure honey, the 13C/12C ratio changes, whereas the protein extract corresponding to the 13C/12C ratio remains constant. The accepted difference between honey and associated protein extract in 13C/12C results is -1δ per thousand, providing the international benchmark for 4 percent of added C7 sugar. This is the internationally tolerated limit for the purity of honey.

In short, 13C/12C ratios are usually expressed as 13C values. The more positive the 13C value, the higher this ratio, the lower the 13C value, the lower this ratio.

Honey is produced by bees collecting nectar from different plant species and is basically a mixture of many sugars, mainly fructose and glucose. Because of its special taste and attractive price, low-cost sugars derived from glucose from sugarcane syrup or corn syrup are sometimes used for additive honey. The addition of these sugars to pure honey is an international problem, and many laboratories around the world use different analytical techniques to determine the purity or adulteration of honey.

Our organization also provides C13 (C4 sugar) analysis services with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment, among the numerous test, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies it provides for businesses in various sectors.