Determination of Furosine in Honey

Abstract

A procedure is reported for the determination of ϵ ‐N‐L‐furoylmethyl‐L‐lysine (furosine) in honey. Furosine was quantified in acid hydrolysis by isocratic ion‐pair reversed phase liquid chromatography, using C₁₈ column and UV detection at 280 nm. Furosine formation by sample hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid increased with a rise in concentration from 6 N to 11.37 N. Average recovery of furosine by this method was 98.6% under our study conditions. The coefficient of variation at 2.5 mg/100 g of sample was 4.23% and the limit of detection was ≤0.15 mg/100 g of sample. Heat treatment (70°C for up to 45 min) increased the furosine content from 3.76 to 5.99 mg/100 g honey (79.7–127 mg/g nitrogen). Furosine levels in honey ranged from 0.33 to 5.49 mg/100 g honey (12–144 mg/g nitrogen.)

Keywords:

• Furosine
• Honey

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Richard Davies for his assistance with the English version.