Use of the electronic tongue as a tool for the characterization of Melipona scutellaris Latreille honey

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize honey of Melipona scutellaris regarding its physicochemical parameters using the electronic tongue (e-tongue) technique combined with the multivariate statistical analysis for honey differentiation. Physicochemical parameters were evaluated following official methods of chemical analyses. A potentiometric electronic tongue with 16 cross-sensitivity sensors was used for the analysis. The Principal Component Analysis and the Cluster Analysis distinguished two groups for the sample set in the evaluation of physicochemical parameters, similar to results found using the electronic tongue. We verified a correlation greater than 0.70 between the profile of potentiometric signals and values of pH, ashes, electrical conductivity, HMF, diastase activity, reducing sugars, and apparent sucrose. The combined use of the electronic tongue with the statistical analysis showed the similarity between samples through the formation of two groups of the sample set. The electronic tongue may be used as a complement to traditional techniques of analyses to determine honey physicochemical parameters, constituting a promising tool in association with the multivariate statistical analysis.

Keywords:

• cluster analysis
• stingless bees
• e-tongue
• sensors
• potentiometric signal
• PCA

Acknowledgements

We thank “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq) for the scholarship granted to CALC (No. 305885/2017-0). AS Nascimento wishes to thank CAPES for the postdoctoral fellowship PNPD20130760.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the “Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil” (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and by the “Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia” (FAPESB) - under grant PAM0004/2014. We thank “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq) for the scholarship granted to CALC (No. 305885/2017-0).