News From The American Chemical Society, May 6, 2009

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery;  Biology / Biochemistry;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 12 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Sweet deception: New test distinguishes impure honey from the real thing

Here's some sweet news for honey lovers: Researchers in France are reporting development of a simple test for distinguishing 100 percent natural honeys from adulterated or impure versions that they say are increasingly being foisted off on consumers. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

Bernard Herbreteau and colleagues point out that the high price of honey and its limited supply has led some beekeepers and food processors to fraudulently make and sell impure honey doped with inexpensive sweeteners, such as corn syrup. These knock-offs are almost physically and chemically indistinguishable from the real thing. Scientists need a better way to identify adulterated honey, the researchers say.

Herbreteau and colleagues describe a new, highly sensitive test that uses a special type of chromatography to separate and identify complex sugars (polysaccharides) on their characteristic chemical fingerprints. To test their method, the scientists obtained three different varieties of pure honey from a single beekeeper and then prepared adulterated samples of the honeys by adding 1 percent corn syrup. They showed that the new technique accurately distinguished the impure honeys from the pure versions based on differences in their sugar content. - MTS

ARTICLE: "Polysaccharides as a Marker for Detection of Corn Sugar Syrup Addition in Honey" http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf803384q

CONTACT: Bernard Herbreteau, Ph.D.
Université de Lyon
Lyon, France

New EU regulations force cosmetics firms to abandon safety tests in animals

New European Union (EU) regulations restricting use of animals to test the safety of shampoo, nail polish, and other personal care products are forcing cosmetic makers to seek alternative ways to test these products, according to an article scheduled for the May 11 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN senior correspondent Marc Reisch explains in the cover story that an EU regulation now restricts use of animal testing, and will totally ban it effective in 2013. "Its influence is far reaching because it will affect substances imported into the EU and because EU regulations are often adopted in other countries," the article notes.

As a result, cosmetic makers are evaluating safety with so-called in vitro or "test tube" testing, simulations of cosmetic effects with computers, and safety information in existing databases. Some manufacturers express concern because EU officials have not yet validated all of the new testing methods and worry that the regulations could stifle development of innovative cosmetic ingredients.

ARTICLE: "Europe's Beauty Race" http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/87/8719cover.html

Source:
Michael Woods
American Chemical Society