Avaliação da formação de hidroximetilfurfural de méis submetidos à dissolução de cristais por diferentes métodos de aquecimento

Honey is a very popular natural food due to its nutritional and medicinal properties. Its major component are sugars, such as fructose and glucose, which tend to crystallize naturally with storage time and at low temperatures. Honey consumers associate the crystallization of honey with adulteration of the product or poor quality, thus preferring its consumption in a liquid state. To dissolve the crystals, they heat the honey, often inappropriately, significantly altering the levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). This compound, in addition to changing the color of honey, at high levels is harmful to human health, being described as cytotoxic, irritating to the eyes, upper respiratory tract and skin and mucous membranes, mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic. To guarantee consumers a quality product, current legislation allows the sale of Apis melifera honey with a maximum of 60 mg/kg of HMF. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the formation of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in honey heated by three different treatments. Samples of wild honey, from Apis melifera bees and completely crystallized, were submitted to heating until complete dissolution of the sugar crystals, using a water bath at 40°C/20 minutes; water bath at 100°C/17 minutes; and microwave medium power for 1 minute. HMF analysis was carried out using the spectrophotometer, following the methodology of Instituto Adolfo Lutz, in crystallized honey and after heating using the three methods. There was an increase in HMF formation after heating crystallized honey, of 10.24% for heating in a water bath at 40°C/20 minutes; 44.64% in the water bath at 100°C/17 minutes; and 23.63% in the microwave/1 minute. In none of the treatments, the formed amount of HMF exceeded the recommended by legislation. It is concluded that the level of hydroxymethylfurfural increases when honey is heated using different forms of heat application and that temperature has a greater influence on this increment.