New insights into the typification of Hellenic monofloral honeys using selected physico-chemical and bio-chemical indicators coupled with z score analysis and chemometric models

The effects of iron and copper on the total in vitro anti-oxidant activity of Hellenic monofloral honeys (citrus, fir, pine, and thyme) under the presence of phytochemicals were presented for the first time in the literature. Authenticity issues were also investigated using supervised statistical techniques on the data set measured which consisted of effective acidity (pH), color intensity (brown pigments), in vitro anti-oxidant activity, total phytochemical content, copper (Cu), and iron (Fe) contents. Results showed that in vitro anti-oxidant activity was positively correlated (p < 0.05) with total phytochemical, copper, and iron contents, along with color intensity and pH in relation to honey botanical origin. Therefore, new terms as those of “total anti-oxidant activity’’ and “total phytochemical content’’ may be proposed to describe the antioxidant activity developed under the presence of phytochemicals and catalytic minerals such as Cu and Fe. Chemometric techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance, linear discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbors and bootstrap analyses in combination with z score test confirmed the above theory, contributing thus, to an added value of Hellenic monofloral honey in the food chain.