Artificial honey
Artificial honey or invert sugar cream is a viscous to solid, flavored mass of inverted sucrose that looks and tastes similar to bee honey and is used as a (nowadays insignificant) substitute for real honey as a spread and for making gingerbread and other baked goods. In the trade in goods, the term “artificial honey” in the Federal Republic of Germany was prescribed by statutory instrument until the end of 1977 , but has since been prohibited - instead, the term “invert sugar cream” is used in the product labeling .
Manufacturing
To produce invert sugar cream, about 75 percent sucrose solution is broken down to a greater or lesser extent to form invert sugar , mostly acid hydrolytically with the help of hydrochloric , sulfuric , phosphoric , carbonic , formic , lactic , tartaric or citric acid . The acid used in each case is then neutralized, for example with sodium carbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate . Instead of acid hydrolysis, the breakdown takes place less often with the help of the enzyme invertase . If solid invert sugar cream is to be produced, crystallization can be promoted by adding already solidified cream from previous production. If, on the other hand, liquid cream is to be made, up to 20% corn syrup is added to prevent crystallization. For flavoring, you take flavorings or add real bee honey; Aroma carriers are phenylacetic acid ethyl ester , diacetyl u. a.
Due to the manufacturing process, invert sugar cream usually contains a detectable amount of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Real honey only contains very small amounts of this (less than 0.002% - except for old or heat-damaged honey) and is therefore used as an indicator for artificial honey in food analysis. If the HMF content in the finished invert sugar cream is below the detection limit, then sufficient HMF must be added to ensure that the substitute product can be detected.
composition
In addition to invert sugar, invert sugar cream also contains remaining sucrose, water and ash and, if added, starch syrup and other starch saccharification products. After the repeal of the Artificial Honey Ordinance at the end of 1977 there are no longer any legally binding regulations that expressly regulate the maximum and minimum quantities of these proportions. The Federation for Food Law and Food Science therefore published the "Guideline for invert sugar cream" in August 1979, which claims to reflect the general understanding of the food industry. Accordingly, the requirements are as follows.
| component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Invert sugar | min. 50.0% i. Tr. |
| Sucrose | Max. 38.5% i. Tr. |
| Starch saccharification products | Max. 38.5% i. Tr. |
| Ash content | Max. 0.5% i. Tr. |
| water | Max. 22.0% |
| PH value | ≥ 2.5 |
Legal regulations
In Germany, the Ordinance on Artificial Honey 1930 laid down legally binding regulations on the composition and labeling of artificial honey. The ordinance stipulated detailed restrictions on the designation and presentation of the products in order to prevent any confusion with real honey: the designation was only allowed to contain the word "honey" in the combination of "artificial honey", a reference to the addition of honey had to be made immediately In connection with this designation and numerical indication of the honey content, any mention of "bees, bee-like insects, beekeeping or honey production" in word and image was prohibited on packaging, in advertising, etc.
The artificial honey ordinance remained in force for decades. In 1974 the EC Council of Ministers issued a guideline for the harmonization of European honey law, which allowed the designation "honey" only for real honey and required the Federal Republic of Germany to abolish the legality of the designation "artificial honey" within a period of 5 years (the same applied to the Word "Kunsthonning" in Denmark). Germany applied the EC Directive with the Honey Ordinance on January 1, 1977, but initially expressly excluded artificial honey within the meaning of the 1930 ordinance. This was then abolished on December 31, 1977, but there was a transition period for the food industry until the end of 1979.
Instead of the state ordinances, the Federal Guideline for Invert Sugar Cream for Food Law and Food Science, which was developed in coordination with the industrial associations concerned and, with the express consent of the working group of food chemical experts of the federal states and the Federal Health Office , was adopted in August 1979 and published in the BLL series of publications. The guideline contains the above-mentioned requirements for the composition, in addition it also requires that reference is made to the addition of real honey only if this makes up at least 10% of the finished product, and also only as a percentage directly Connection with the product name. However, the directive does not contain a ban on depicting bees or the like.
history
Artificial honey is a product of the industrial sugar production that originated in the 19th century. Artificial honey was already available in Switzerland in 1880, although it was not invert sugar cream, but glucose syrup or mixtures of glucose syrup and honey, which were offered as "table honey" or "Swiss honey". Such names soon aroused the protest of Swiss beekeepers, who, for example, achieved in 1886 that the Canton of Graubünden banned any designation that contained the word "honey". On the other hand, at around the same time, the Lyle company in England brought a honey-like product made of inverted sucrose onto the market (probably the "Lyle's Golden Syrup", which is still produced today), which did not have the taste of honey, but came close to it in its chemical composition .
At the beginning of the 20th century, flavored artificial honey based on invert sugar with added honey was already widespread, in 1907 an annual production of 2,800 tons is given for Prussia (with a honey production of 20,000 tons).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hans-Dieter Belitz , Werner Grosch , Peter Schieberle : Textbook of food chemistry . 6th completely revised edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-73201-3 , p. 919 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-73202-0 .
- ↑ a b Claus Franzke (Ed.): General textbook of food chemistry. 3. Edition. Behr, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-86022-234-1 .
- ^ A b Walter Zipfel, Kurt-Dietrich Rathke: Food law: loose-leaf commentary on all essential regulations for the manufacture and marketing of food, animal feed, cosmetic products, other consumer goods and tobacco products. 95. Supplementary delivery 1996.
- ^ Ordinance on artificial honey of March 21, 1930, RGBl. I p. 102 ( online )
- ↑ Council Directive 74/409 / EEC of July 22, 1974 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to honey
- ↑ Honey Ordinance of December 13, 1976, Federal Law Gazette I p. 3391 , in particular §9 (3)
- ↑ Art. 13 of the ordinance amending food law ordinances of December 20, 1977, Federal Law Gazette I p. 2802
- ↑ Pure bee honey and fabricated table honey. In: Central Pharmaceutical Hall for Germany. Vol. 21, No. 24, 1880, pp. 202–204 ( online ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) .
- ↑ Federal Council resolution on the appeal of Swiss table honey manufacturers against the ordinance of the Canton of Graubünden of July 31, 1886, etc., BBl 1886 I 126 .
- ↑ Otto Hehner: To the honey test. In: Repertory of analytical chemistry. VI. Volume, No. 3, 1886, pp. 41-42 ( online ).
- ↑ Ferdinand Gruselius: Surrogate in households. In: Cooking school and advice for family & home. Vol. 18, No. 42, 1904 ( online ).
- ↑ honey . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 9, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1907, pp. 531-532 .
