Determination of three flavor enhancers using HPLC-ECD and its application in detecting adulteration of honey

Honey adulteration has attracted extensive attention from the whole world. In order to change the flavor of honey, the prospects of the addition of flavor enhancers to honey are endless. In this paper, a simple, sensitive, accurate, high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) method for the simultaneous determination of maltol, ethyl maltol, and vanillin in honey was developed. The detection limits of maltol, ethyl maltol, and vanillin were 5.7 × 10−3, 2.9 × 10−2, and 1.3 × 10−2 μg mL−1, respectively. The calibration curves of these three flavor enhancers showed excellent linearity within the test ranges. The recoveries of maltol, ethyl maltol, and vanillin ranged from 80.6% to 100.2%. Maltol, ethyl maltol, and vanillin were not determined in natural honey. When the three flavors were added to honey, these compounds could be accurately determined. The result showed that HPLC-ECD is applicable to the simultaneous determination of the three flavor enhancers in honey, which is of great significance in the identification of honey adulteration.