Q. Marking regulations of honey?

The marking regulations indicate that each container of honey shall be suitably marked so as to give suitable information as follows:

a) Name of the material and grade designation

b) Name of the packer

c) Batch or code no.

d) Net weight

Honey is the nectar of flowers that is collected, modified and concentrated by honey bee. It contains 75 % glucose and fructose and 2% or more sucrose. As defined by the Food and Drug Administration, honey may not contain more than 8% sucrose - a higher % is taken as an indication of adulteration by added sucrose. Honey is one material food product, which contains more fructose than glucose. The relative
amounts being 40.5% of fructose and 34.5% of glucose.

Flavours of honey differ according to the characteristics esters present in the nectar of different flowers. Honeys also come from orange and other citrus blossom, wild sage, cultivated buckwheat and tulip tree. The colour of honey may vary from white to amber or darker graded or qualities of honey are independent of colour but darker coloured honey generally has a stronger flavour than the light coloured ones. It is also more acid, which has some significance in the use of soda to neutralize the acidity of honey used as a partial substitute for sugar in flavour mixture.

A process has been developed for producing dried honey. The product has colour and flavour quite close to that of original honey. It has granular form, is free flowing and has a longer shelf life. It may have sucrose added for the purpose of raising the temperature at which the dried product will soften thus making it more resistant to caking at high temperature.

With the basic understanding about the characteristics, specifications, requirements and criteria of quality for honey, let us now carry out the activities 1-5 given herewith.