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Foods
Special Issues
Honey and Bee Products: Characterization, Bioactivities and Authenticity—2nd Edition
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Honey and Bee Products: Characterization, Bioactivities and Authenticity—2nd Edition

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2026 | Viewed by 1653

Editors

Prof. Dr. Sandra M. Osés

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Universidad de Burgos (University of Burgos), Plaza Misael Bañuelos s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Interests: honey; propolis; bioactive properties; antimicrobial activity; food safety; food technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Maria Teresa Sancho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Universidad de Burgos (University of Burgos), Plaza Misael Bañuelos s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Interests: honey; propolis; mellissopalynology; bee products quality and analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Volume I of this Special Issue (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/foods/special_issues/55HN296L72) achieved a satisfactory outcome, attracting the attention and interest of many scientists. Accordingly, I would like to express my gratitude to all authors for their contributions and support. As beekeeping products continue to gain increasing interest within the scientific community, we are looking forward to launching Volume II of this Special Issue. I hope it will be as successful as Volume I and as beneficial to the field.

Nowadays, the population is increasingly concerned about the safety, quality, and authenticity of the commodities they use and/or consume. People demand healthy, natural, functional, and appealing products, among which, bee-derived goods play an important role. To meet the demanding needs of consumers, it is necessary to implement robust traceability systems from hive to table, just as is performed with other products. The standardization of bee products is of paramount importance for boosting their commercialization within international markets. Researching novel, rapid, and low-cost honey analytical techniques is crucial for detecting and combating fraud. Finally, the characterization of bee products regarding their potential functional components and applications, together with the investigation of novel processing methods that help extend beekeeping products shelf life, while keeping possible bioactivities, will undoubtedly promote the apiculture sector and improve the population's quality of life.

In this Special Issue, we aim to collect and publish innovative research and review papers on the following: (i) standardization of bee products, (ii) investigation of novel analytical techniques to detect frauds, (iii) characterization of bee products, and (iv) novel processing methods that help improve the apiculture sector.

Prof. Dr. Sandra M. Osés
Prof. Dr. Maria Teresa Sancho
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • honey composition and authenticity
  • bioactive compounds in bee products
  • functional properties of bee products
  • advanced analytical techniques for bee products
  • nutritional and therapeutic applications
  • novel processing methods
  • quality standardization and traceability

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1502 KB  
Article
Βotanical Origin Confirmation and Adulteration Testing of Monofloral Honey Using ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy in Combination with Pattern Recognition and Dimension Reduction Techniques
by Dimitrios G. Lazaridis, Vassilios K. Karabagias, Sofia Karabournioti, Aris E. Giannakas and Ioannis K. Karabagias
Foods 2026, 15(9), 1544; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15091544 - 29 Apr 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 518
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate whether Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy could be effectively applied for the botanical origin confirmation of monofloral (fir, thyme, pine) and flower/polyfloral (flower, citrus, asfaka, and mixtures) honey in accordance with melissopalynological analysis, and to [...] Read more.
The present study aimed to investigate whether Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy could be effectively applied for the botanical origin confirmation of monofloral (fir, thyme, pine) and flower/polyfloral (flower, citrus, asfaka, and mixtures) honey in accordance with melissopalynological analysis, and to unveil the adulteration of monofloral honey with flower/polyfloral honey. Fifty-nine samples were subjected first to melissopalynological analysis to record the dominant pollen flora. Afterwards, ATR-FTIR analysis identified the dominant spectral regions of interest. Among them, 3300–3200 cm−1, 2970–2920 cm−1, 1730–1600 cm−1, 1420–1410 cm−1, 1390–1380 cm−1, 1380–1330 cm−1, 1260–1225 cm−1, 1210–1180 cm−1, 1150–1130 cm−1, 1100–1010 cm−1, and 950–750 cm−1 showed a differentiation potential. Pattern recognition [multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)/linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and dimension reduction (factor analysis)] techniques resulted in 100% classification of samples by botanical origin, with the most significant factor parameters being the regions of 1730–1600 cm−1, 1420–1410 cm−1, and 950–750 cm−1, which indicate the presence of water, carbohydrates, ketones, amino acids, and organic acids. Fir, thyme, and pine samples were also adulterated with the batch of flower/polyfloral honey samples (20% w/w), and ATR-FTIR, in combination with the aforementioned multivariate techniques, differentiated the adulterated samples from monofloral samples with an overall cross-validation prediction rate of 91.2% based on LDA. ATR-FTIR, when combined with chemometrics, can be a rapid analytical technique for confirming the botanical origin and adulteration of monofloral honey with polyfloral honey, with an error rate below 9%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Honey and Bee Products: Characterization, Bioactivities and Authenticity—2nd Edition)
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27 pages, 873 KB  
Article
From Environment to Hive: Plasticizer and Bisphenols Contamination in Algerian Honeys
by Federica Litrenta, Nadra Rechidi-Sidhoum, Angela Giorgia Potortì, Ambrogina Albergamo, Vincenzo Lo Turco, Roberto Sturniolo, Meki Boutaiba Benklaouz, Qada Benameur and Giuseppa Di Bella
Foods 2026, 15(5), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15050965 - 9 Mar 2026
Viewed by 700
Abstract
Phthalates (PAEs), non-phthalate plasticizers (NPPs) and bisphenols (BPs) were monitored by fully validated GC-MS and HPLC-MS/MS protocols in honeys from diverse Algerian coastal and non-coastal areas. Experimental results showed that no honey was free of these compounds. A higher PAE contamination was evident [...] Read more.
Phthalates (PAEs), non-phthalate plasticizers (NPPs) and bisphenols (BPs) were monitored by fully validated GC-MS and HPLC-MS/MS protocols in honeys from diverse Algerian coastal and non-coastal areas. Experimental results showed that no honey was free of these compounds. A higher PAE contamination was evident in coastal honeys, while NPPs were more abundant in non-coastal samples. The revealed PAEs were: dimethyl phthalate (DMP, 28.12–277.14 µg/kg), diethyl phthalate (DEP, 18.20–404.70 µg/kg), dibutyl phthalate (DBP, 29.58–889.71 µg/kg) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP, 20.66–523.16 µg/kg), while bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT, 8.95–206.12 µg/kg) and diethyl adipate (DEA, 10.36–97.51 µg/kg) were the NPPs determined. The EU—not Algeria—classifies DBP and DEHP as very high concern substances. Nonetheless, these PAEs were the most abundant and frequently detected contaminants. Even certain honeys showed DEHP outliers compared to the range provided above (1256.53 µg/kg). Coastal and non-coastal honeys were contaminated by bisphenol A (BPA, 2.64–12.73 µg/kg), thus, raising compliance concerns for export in the EU. In fact, the assessment of dietary exposure and toxicological risk derived from the consumption of these honeys highlighted that, while the exposure to plasticizers was within the safety limits, the exposure to BPA raised toxicological concern. Hopefully, these findings will support the constant monitoring of beekeeping activities and products and encourage the adoption of good practices with a view to guide the advancement of the sector and better safeguard consumers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Honey and Bee Products: Characterization, Bioactivities and Authenticity—2nd Edition)
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