Untargeted Small Metabolite Identification from Thermally Treated Tualang Honey

This study investigated the effects of thermal treatment on Tualang honey sample in terms of honey colour and heat-induced small metabolites. The heating process was carried out in a temperature controlled water batch at 90oC for 4 hours. The honey samples were put in cylinder tubes with the dimension of 1 cm diameter and 10 cm length for homogenous heat transfer. The results found that the thermal treatment produced not only hydroxylmethylfurfural, but also other harmful substances such as phthalic anhydride and radiolytic byproducts. The degradation of honey protein was due to the detection of free amino acids such as cysteine and phenylalanine in heat-treated honey samples. Sugar dehydration was also occurred because fragmented di-galactose was identified based on the presence of characteristic ions in the mass fragmentation pattern. The honey colour was found getting darker as the heating duration was increased up to 4 hours. Approximately, 60 mm PFund of increment was noticed for the honey colour with the colour change rate of 14.8 mm PFund per hour. Based on the principal component analysis, the score plot clearly shows that the chemical profile of Tualang honey was significantly altered after 2 hours of heating at 90oC.

Authors:

• Lee Suan Chua

Keywords:

• Honey colour
• hydroxylmethylfurfural
• thermal treatment
• Tualang honey.

References:

[1] J.M. Alvarez-Suarez, S. Tulipani, D. Díaz, Y. Estevez, S. Romandini, F.
Giampieri, E. Damiani, P. Astolfi, S. Bompadre, and M. Battino,
“Antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of several monofloral Cuban
honeys and their correlation with color, polyphenol content and other
chemical compounds”, Food Chem. Toxicol., vol. 48, no. 8-9, pp. 2490-
2499, Aug-Sep. 2010.
[2] R. Subramanian, H.U. Hebbar, and N.K. Rastogi, “Processing of honey:
A review”, Int. J. Food Properties, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 127-143, Jan.
2007.
[3] I. Escriche, M. Visquert, M. Juan-Borras, and P. Fito, “Influence of
simulated industrial thermal treatments on the volatile fractions of
different varieties of honey”, Food Chem., vol. 112, no. 2, pp. 329–338,
Jan 2009.
[4] B. Abu-Jdayil, A.A. Ghzawi, K.I.M. Al-Malah, and S. Zaitoun, “Heat
effect on rheology of light- and dark-coloured honey”, J. Food Eng., vol.
51, no. 1, pp. 33-38, Jan 2002.
[5] W. Guo, Y. Liu, X. Zhu, and S. Wang, “Temperature-dependent
dielectric properties of honey associated with dielectric heating”, J.
Food Eng., vol. 102, no. 3, pp. 209–216, Feb. 2011.
[6] A.C. Soria, I. Martínez-Castro, and J. Sanz, “Some aspects of dynamic
headspace analysis of volatile components in honey”, Food Res Int., vol.
41, no. 8, pp. 838–848, Oct. 2008.
[7] J. Serra Bonvehí, and F. Ventura Coll, “Flavour index and aroma
profiles of fresh and processed honeys”, J. Sci. Food Agr., vol. 83, no. 4,
pp. 275–282, Mar. 2003.
[8] E. Corbella, and D. Cozzolino, “Classification of the floral origin of
Uruguayan honeys by chemical and physical characteristics combined
with chemometrics”, LWT-Food Sci. Technol., vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 534-
539, June 2006.
[9] K. Gras, J. Luong, R. Gras, H.J. Cortes, and R.A. Shellie,
“Determination of furfurals in Manuka honey using piston-cylinder
liquid–liquid extraction and gas chromatography”, J. Chrom. A, vol.
1362, pp. 43–48, Oct. 2014.
[10] S. Aazza, B. Lyoussi, D. Antunes, and M.G. Miguel, “Physicochemical
characterization and antioxidant activity of commercial Portuguese
Honey”, J. Food Sci., vol. 78, no. 8, pp. C1159-1165, Aug. 2013.
[11] M.D. Ioannidou, G.A. Zachariadis, A.N. Anthemidis, and J.A. Stratis,
“Direct determination of toxic trace metals in honey and sugars using
inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry”, Talanta,
vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 92–97, Jan. 2005.
[12] L.S. Chua, N.A. Adnan, N.L. Abdul-Rahaman, and M.R. Sarmidi,
“Effect of thermal treatment on the biochemical composition of tropical
honey samples”, Int. Food Res. J., vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 773-778, Nov.
2014.
[13] E. Yener, S. Ungan, and M. Ozilgen, “Drying behavior of honey-starch
mixtures”, J. Food Sci., vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 1054-1058, July 1987.
[14] H.D. Belitz, and W. Grosch, Food Chemistry. CAC, Draft Report of
24th Session, New York: Springer, Geneva, 1999.
[15] J. Lewkowski, “Synthesis, chemistry and applications of 5-
hydroxymethylfurfural and its derivatives”, Arch. Organic Chemistry,
vol. (i), pp. 17-54, Aug. 2001.
[16] L. Nassberger, “Influence of 5- Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) on the
overall metabolism of human blood cells”, Hum. Exp. Toxicol., vol. 9,
no. 4, pp. 211-214, Jul. 1990.
[17] W.R. Bruce, M.C. Archer, D.E. Corpet, A. Medline, S. Minkin, D.
Stamp, Y. Yin, and X.M. Zhang, “Diet, aberrant crypt foci and
colorectal cancer”, Mutat. Res., vol. 290, no. 1, pp. 111-118, Nov. 1993.
[18] Y.J. Surh, A. Liem, J.A. Miller, and S.R. Tannenbaum, “5-
Sulfooxymethylfurfural as a possible ultimate mutagenic and
carcinogenic metabolite of the Maillard reaction product, 5-
hydroxymethylfurfural”, Carcinogenesis, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 2375-2377,
Oct. 1994.
[19] V. Gokmen, and H.Z. Senyuva, “Rapid Determination of
hydroxymethylfurfural in foods using liquid chromatography-mass
spectrometry”, Application Note, 5989-5403EN, Agilent Technologies,
2006.
[20] S. Ozcan, and H.Z. Senyuva, “Improved and simplified liquid
chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass
spectrometry method for the analysis of underivatized free amino acids
in various foods”, Application Note. 5989-5836EN, Agilent
Technologies, 2006.
[21] X. Guo, A.P. Bruins, and T.R. Covey, “Characterization of typical
chemical background interferences in atmospheric pressure ionization
liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry”, Rapid Comm. Mass
Spectrom., vol. 20, no. 20, pp. 3145–3150, Oct. 2006.
[22] T. Shoeib, A. Cunje, A.C. Hopkinson, and K.W. Michael Siu, “Gasphase
fragmentation of the Ag+–phenylalanine complex: cation–Π Interactions and radical cation formation”, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom.,
vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 408–416, Apr. 2002.
[23] C. Slegers, A. Maquille, V. Deridder, E. Sonveaux, J.L. Habib Jiwan,
and B. Tilquin, “LC–MS analysis in the e-beam and gamma radiolysis of
metoprolol tartrate in aqueous solution: Structure elucidation and
formation mechanism of radiolytic products”, Radiat. Phys. Chem., vol.
75, no. 9, pp. 977–989, Sep. 2006.
[24] M. Stahl, A. von Brocke, and E. Bayer, “Mass Spectrometry of
Oligosaccharides”, Chapter 27, in: Journal of Chromatography Library,
vol. 66, Carbohydrate analysis by modern chromatography and
electrophoresis, Z.E. Rassi (editor), First edition, Elsevier Science B.V.,
2002, pp. 961-1042.
[25] N.N. Dookeran, T. Yalcin, and A.G. Harrison, “Fragmentation reactions
of protonated α-amino acids”, J. Mass Spectrom., vol. 31, no. 5, pp.
500–508, May 1996.
[26] H.Z. Senyuva, J. Gilbert, S. Silici, A. Charlton, C. Dal, N. Gürel, and D.
Cimen, “Profiling Turkish honeys to determine authenticity using
physical and chemical characteristics”, J. Agr. Food Chem., vol. 57, no.
9, pp. 3911–3919, Mar. 2009.
[27] E.H. Chester, H.J. Schwartz, C.B.Jr. Payne, and S. Greenstein, “Phthalic
anhydride asthma”, Clin. Allergy, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 15-20, Jan 1977.
[28] M. Wernfors, J. Nielsen, A. Schütz, and S. Skerfving, “Phthalic
anhydride-induced occupational asthma”, Int. Arch. Allergy Appl.
Immunol., vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 77-82, 1986.