Discrimination of Polish unifloral honeys using overall PTR-MS and HPLC fingerprints combined with chemometrics

A total of 62 honey samples of six floral origins (rapeseed, lime, heather, cornflower, buckwheat and black locust) were analysed by means of proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and HPLC-DAD. The data were evaluated by principal component analysis and k-nearest neighbours classification in order to examine consistent differences in analytical fingerprints between various honeys allowing their discrimination. The study revealed, that both techniques were able to distinguish the floral origins, however the HPLC shows advantage over PTR-MS providing substantially better differentiation of all analysed honey types. Especially HPLC fingerprints recorded at 210 nm were most suitable for discrimination of botanical origin with the use of chemometric analysis. The obtained classification rates were: 100%, 93%, 100%, 83%, 100%, 100% (HPLC) and 69%, 67%, 78%, 67%, 100%, 88% (PTR-MS) for rapeseed, lime, heather, cornflower, buckwheat and black locust, respectively. Even if performance of PTR-MS in general was lower than HPLC, it might be useful for fast on-line screening of buckwheat honey.