Prediction of Honey Shelf Life

Fourteen commercial honey samples of different botanical origin(acacia, chestnut, citrus, eucalyptus, multifloral) were stored for up to 18months at room temperature. Both 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and diastasewere evaluated and kinetics carried out. The highest HMF increase wasin citrus and eucalyptus honeys at 3 mg/kg/month; the lowest in chestnut at0.256 mg/kg/month. The highest diastase deactivation was in eucalyptushoney at 0.485 DU/kg/month; the lowest was in chestnut at 0.258 DU/kg/month. Honey shelf life was estimated for both indices, HMF and diastase,using a Bayesian approach. The results show that commercial honey shelf lifedepends on botanical origin as well as processing. Except chestnut, all otherhoneys showed shorter shelf lives than the declared one (usually 36 months).The shortest values, 15 months, were for citrus and eucalyptus honeys. Thelongest, 20 months, was for acacia and multifloral honeys.