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† Corresponding author 
© 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

 

 

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF HONEY PRODUCED IN MASHA, 

GESHA, AND SHEKO DISTRICTS IN SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA 

 

Awraris Getachew1* --- Dejen Assefa2 --- Zerihun Tajebe3 

1Abdullah Baqshan Chair of Bee Research, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia 

Bonga Agricultural Research Center, Bonga, Ethiopia 

2College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Selale Campus, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia 

3Bonga Agricultural Research Center, Bonga, Ethiopia 

 

ABSTRACT 

The qualities of 36 selected honey samples from three locations of Southwest Ethiopia (Masha, Gesha and 
Sheko districts) were evaluated for six physico-chemical attributes namely total acidity, 
hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), reducing sugars, sucrose, moisture and mineral content. The samples of 
honey were analyzed following the techniques proposed by the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia 
(QSAE), European Union (EU) and Codex standards for honey. The results obtained showed that the 
overall analysis of honey total acidity, HMF, reducing sugars, sucrose, moisture and mineral content were 
found to be 28.32 ± 14.14 meq/kg,  19.52 ± 9.41mg/kg, 66.79 ± 6.96 %, 4.46 ± 2.59 %, 22.86 ± 1.03 
% and 0.22 ± 0.16 %, respectively. Almost all quality parameters of honey found to meet national and 
international honey specifications but not moisture for all samples and sucrose in the case of Gesha district. 
Therefore, further research is suggested to optimize the moisture content of honey in humid and sub-humid 
areas of the region. 

Keywords: Honey, Total acidity, HMF, Reducing sugars, Sucrose, Moisture, Mineral content. 

 

Contribution/ Originality 

The study contributes in the existing literature to fill the gap of the current state of 

knowledge in physico-chemical properties of honey produced in humid and sub-humid areas of 

southwest Ethiopia. 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

Honey is the most important primary product of beekeeping both from a quantitative and an 

economic point of view, the first bee product used by human kind in ancient times [1]. Honey is a 

sweet and flavorful product which has been consumed as a high nutritive value food [2]. It is 

essentially composed of a complex mixture of carbohydrates, of which fructose and glucose 

account for nearly 85–95%, and other minor substances, such as organic acids, amino acids, 

proteins, minerals, vitamins, and lipids [2]. 

Current Research in Agricultural Sciences 
2014 Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 110-116 
ISSN(e): 2312-6418 
ISSN(p): 2313-3716 
© 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 
 

 
 
 
 



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According to FAO [3] report 45,300 metric tons of honey is produced per annum in 

Ethiopia, makes the country to rank first honey producer in Africa and ninth in the world. 

However, the majority of honey is crude and poorly managed. Honey is of good quality as long as 

it is in the hive, but faulty handling from the time of its harvest until it reaches to market is 

responsible for its inferior quality [4]. Several factors have contributed to its low quality among 

which high moisture content is the major quality problem in the country. Harvesting unripened 

honey, unsuitable honey storage container and storage places also attribute to high moisture 

content [5]. The quality of honey relied to a great extent on the art of the producer in storing 

and blending the product [6]. In marketing of honey, consumers should have confidence that 

they are getting good quality for what they are paying so that the country able to earn foreign 

currency to revamp the national economy [1]. 

The quality of honey is mainly determined by its sensorial, chemical, physical and 

microbiological characteristics [2].The physico-chemical properties of honey produced in 

different geographical locations of Ethiopia have been reported by several researchers [7-9]. A 

quality product will go a long way in developing the confidence that encourages return, 

customers and efficient production of a product to any marketing scheme [1]. South and 

Southwest region of the country particularly Kaffa, Sheka and Bench-Maji zones are highly 

potential in forest beekeeping and large volume of honey is produced per annum. In these areas 

the majority of household keep bees and honey serve as a source of cash incomes for many 

households [10]. Despite the potentiality of the areas and large volume of honey production, 

information is lacking on quality perspective based on national and international standards. 

Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize physico-chemical quality of honey in different 

locations of Southwest Ethiopia.  

 

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 

2.1. Honey Sampling  

The honey samples were collected randomly from three districts of Southwestern Ethiopia. 

Accordingly, the most beekeeping potential districts namely Gesha, Masha and Sheko districts 

were selected. The sample preparation procedure was according to the Codex Alimentarius 

Committee on Sugars [11]. 

A total of 36 honey samples (12 from each location) were randomly collected from beekeepers 

in  selected districts  during 2008/9 honey harvesting  season.  

 

2.2. Physico-Chemical Properties Analysis 

Physico-chemical properties of honey were determined at Biochemical Laboratory of Quality 

and Standard Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE). The samples of honey were analyzed following 

QSAE [12], European Union Directive (EU) [13], and Codex Alimentarius Committee on 

Sugars [11] methods. The parameters of interest were: moisture content (%), reducing sugars 



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© 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

(%), sucrose content (%),  total acidity (meq/kg), mineral content (%) and hydroxymethylfurfural 

(HMF in mg/kg). 

 

3. DATA ANALYSIS 

One way ANOVA was computed to compare means for each physico-chemical properties of 

honey samples collected from honey producing localities in the Southwestern part of Ethiopia. 

For all the computations, JMP-5 statistical software was employed [14] and tests were made at 

95% level of significance.  

 

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION  

Results of physico-chemical property analysis of honey samples are reported in Table 1. 

 

4.1. Total Acidity of Honey 

The overall average acidity of  honey samples analyzed in the present study was 28.32 ± 

14.14 meq/kg  (ranges between 15.05 - 56.7 meq/kg) which is acceptable range in the  world 

honey market [11-13]. The honey samples from Gesha and Masha districts were significantly 

lower in acidity than honey samples from Sheko district (P ˂ 0.001). Most of the samples,32 

(88.89%) met the requirement of  an international standards [15], which indicates the freshness 

of honey samples and absence of unwanted honey fermentation [8], but the remaining 4 samples 

from Sheko district (11.11%) surpassed the limit. Differences in honey acidity could be caused by 

differences in geographical condition, harvesting procedure and storage conditions [16], which 

could be the reason in the case of Sheko district. 

 

4.2. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) 

The overall average HMF value of honey samples analyzed in the present study was 19.52 ± 

9.41mg/kg (Table 1) ranging between 2.2 - 36.15 mg/kg which is acceptable range in the  world 

honey market standard. HMF is defined as  a breakdown product of fructose that is formed slowly 

and naturally during the storage of honey and much more quickly when honey is heated [17], 

and widely recognized as an indicator of honey freshness [2, 18]. The amount of HMF present in 

honey is the reference used as a guide to the amount of heating that has taken place: the higher 

the HMF value the lower the quality of the honey is considered to be[17]. The amount of HMF 

concentration increases with storage and prolonged heating of honey [2, 19]. Some countries set 

an HMF limit for imported honey (sometimes 40 mg/kg) and honey with an HMF higher than 

this limit will not be accepted. However, some honeys have a naturally high HMF level [17]. 

 

4.3. Reducing Sugars  

The overall average reducing sugars value of honey samples analyzed in the present study 

was 66.79 ± 6.96 % (Table 1) ranges between 54.45% to 79.99% which fulfilled the requirements 

of Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) [12], Codex Alimentarius Committee on 



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© 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

Sugars [11] and European Union Directive (EU) [13].Therefore, all honey samples qualify an 

international standard for content of reducing sugars in honey. There was no significant 

difference (p ˃ 0.05) in the amount of reducing sugars among honey samples analyzed from all the 

three locations. Similarly, Gobessa, et al. [8] and Gebremedhin, et al. [9] reported 65 and 70 %  

reducing sugars content of honey on average in Western and Northern parts of Ethiopia, 

respectively.  

 

4.4. Sucrose  

The overall average sucrose content of honey samples analyzed in the present study was 4.46 

± 2.59%  (ranges between 1.32 % to 10.98 %) which is acceptable range in the world honey 

market. The sucrose content of honey samples from Gesha district was significantly higher (p ˂ 

0.05) than honey samples from Masha and Sheko districts (Table 1). The sucrose content of honey 

depends on botanical origin of nectar [8],  its level should not exceed 5% according to an 

International Regulatory Standards. The result of this study reveals that sucrose content of 

honey samples from Masha and Sheko districts qualify the requirement of an International 

Regulatory Standards but not samples from Gesha district. The higher sucrose content of honey 

could be the result of an early harvest of honey, in which sucrose has not been converted to 

fructose and glucose [20], which probably attributed to higher sucrose content in Gesha honey 

samples. 

 

4.5. Moisture Content  

The overall average moisture content of honey samples collected in the present  study was 

22.86 ± 1.03% (ranges between 20.4 % to 24.8 %) which is not acceptable range in the  world 

honey market. The moisture content is the most essential quality component of honey, because 

the rate of fermentation, its shelf life span and processing characteristics are greatly determined  

by the amount of moisture content [9].  The different moisture content of honey depends on  

harvesting season, the degree of maturity that honey reached in the hive, type of hive used, 

environmental temperature  and moisture content of original plant [8, 21].Moisture content of 

honey can naturally be as low as 13 % or as high as 23 % depending on the source of the honey, 

climatic conditions and other factors [17]. In areas of high humidity, it can be difficult to produce 

honey of sufficient low water content [17].  To keep moisture content acceptable for export 

standard combs with more than 75% of the honey cells sealed should be harvested. High moisture 

content could accelerate crystallization in certain types of honey and  increases its water activity 

of the honey to ferment [2, 17], and deteriorate its quality [22].Therefore, the  higher moisture 

content of honey samples in the present study could be due to higher humidity of the study areas, 

inappropriate honey harvesting time before ripening and storage conditions. 

 

 

 



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4.6. Mineral Content  

The overall average mineral content of honey samples analyzed in the current study was 0.22 

± 0.16 %  (ranges between 0.02 % to 0.55 %) which is within the acceptable range between 0.01-

1.2% reported by the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) [12] and 0.6% 

maximum limit reported by the International Honey Commission [15], and European Honey 

Directive  for mineral content of honey. The mineral content of blossom honey ranges between 

0.1 and 0.3% [19],  which is related to the geographical areas, seasons and botanical origin of the 

honey [8, 23]. The amount of mineral content is among various factors in determining honey 

color, the higher mineral amount of honey usually observed in dark color honey types [24]. This 

supports the present study, as Sheko honey samples were dark colored with higher amount of  

mineral content but Gesha and Masha honey samples with lighter color with significantly lower 

amount of mineral content. Mineral content of honey is highly dependent on the soil type where 

the nectar producing plant is located [25], and the type of flower used by bees for nectar [26]. 

 

5. CONCLUSION 

The result of the present study indicated that most honey quality parameters analyzed  from 

three different locations of Southwest Ethiopia fulfilled international honey quality standards but 

not moisture content (all samples analyzed (100%)) and sucrose content (in the case of Gesha: 

33.3%). Extensive research is required to optimize the moisture and sucrose content of honey in 

humid and sub-humid areas of the region to improve honey quality. Besides, beekeepers should be 

well trained on the quality standards and the ways how to improve and assure the quality 

parameters. 

 

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT  

The authors greatly appreciate Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) for granting 

budget and Bonga Agricultural Research Center for facilitating logistics during the research. 

Moreover, we would like to acknowledge the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia for 

analyzing all honey samples.  

 

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Table-1. Physico-chemical properties of honey samples from Gesha, Masha and Sheko Woredas 

(Mean ± SD). 

Parameters  Gesha Masha Sheko Overall 
Average 

Satisfactory 
limit by EU 
and Codex 

Acidity (meq/kg) 20 ±4.89a 18.35 ± 
2.28a 

46.62 ± 
7.11b 

28.32 ± 
14.14 

At most 50 

HMF (mg/kg) 15.32 ± 
7.32 

21.76 ± 
4.35 

21.49 ± 
12.62 19.52 ± 9.41 

At most 40 

Reducing sugars 
(%) 

69.27 ±9.33 66.32 ± 
3.42 

64.78 ± 
5.67 66.79 ± 6.96 

At least 60 

 
Sucrose (%) 

 
6.37 ±2.88a 3.99 ± 1.55b 

3.01 ± 
1.68bc 4.46 ± 2.59 

 
At most 5 

Moisture (%) 23.52 ± 
0.83a 

23.21 ± 
0.47a 

21.84 ± 
0.78b 

22.86 ± 1.03 At most 20 

Minerals (%) 0.14 ±0.09 0.11 ± 0.05 0.4 ± 0.12 0.22 ± 0.16 At most 0.6 

Means with different letters in a same row are significantly different from one another (P < 0.05). 

 

  

 

 

 

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