Honey produced by honey bees (Apis mellifera) in the Paraiba hinterland

Honey is a natural product made by bees from flower nectar. It has nutritional and therapeutic properties and is highly valuable commercially. It is a complex biological product whose quality and physical and chemical composition vary significantly depending on the flora visited, the climatic and soil conditions of the production region, and the beekeeper's management practices. Honey quality control is not a common practice among producers and traders. This study analyses the physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of honey produced by Apis mellifera bees from different associations and informal beekeepers in the Sertao region of Paraiba. Twenty samples from different producers and brands were analysed, with tests conducted with a minimum of three repetitions. According to the results, among the honeys analysed, those purchased from informal producers were the ones that presented the highest number of parameters in non-compliance with the quality standards in force in the country and that, despite the low confidence that honey samples sold informally convey to consumers, no product with signs of fraud was detected in the samples analysed.