Stingless bee honey: a precious but unregulated product - reality and expectations

ABSTRACT

Stingless bee honey is a unique product with physicochemical characteristics and distinct antioxidant, antimicrobial, and medicinal properties from Apis mellifera honey. However, it does not fall within most of the limits imposed by current regulations for honey. In this context, this review aimed to demonstrate the diversity of stingless bee honeys, comparing the thresholds with the current regulation and the suggested for product control. Besides, considering that this honey is little explored commercially, this review provides current data on their chemical composition and health-promoting properties, contributing to product dissemination and providing support for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Regulation
• chemical composition
• antioxidant capacity
• antimicrobial activity
• health-promotion properties

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil (CNPq) for their financial support for this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.