Matt Campion

My name is Matthew Campion. I'm the lab manager at Airborne Honey. I've been here for about three years now, coming from a background in analytical chemistry and toxicology. We analyze 1500 to 2000 samples a year. These comprise of batch samples from beekeepers and finished batches for domestic export consumer markets. Also, manufacturers requiring bulk honey to a given specification.

Our analysis is important to maintaining the integrity of the brand and adherence to our own standard, ensuring that the product is honest, undamaged, and traceable. We're largely guarded by the Codex Alimentarius which is the international collection of standards and codes of practice, which dictates how honey can be processed, its constituents, as well as their own internal specifications for honey and honey types.

We test for honey authenticity using a range of techniques. These fall under the umbrella or scope of physicochemical, microscopic, and organoleptic or sensory properties. The range of tests and key parameters include color, moisture, conductivity, total pollen as a proportion of a given amount of honey, and the proportion of a given pollen type.

There's also instrumental and HPLC analysis using a range of detectors. We're looking at things like hydroxy methyl furfural which is a proxy for heat damage, polyphenolics, sugars, and manuka markers.

One of the biggest challenges we have would be the maintenance of the quality of data whilst achieving high throughput specifically in the busier times of the year. Ultimately, good data in corresponds to good data out.

So to that, we have internal quality systems and within the lab, we also have systems modeled after ISO17025 which is the standard for testing and calibration labs. We also have a database of over 40,000 honeys and there's probably 250,000+ individual records associated with each of those. Also, there's some degree of nuance imposing a classification framework over an actual product which can vary year to year but our database gives us a pretty solid foundation for typing honey and providing honey which is true to label.

Also, the system is self-validating in that we have predicted values for our blended batches which can then be compared to the measured results, and we monitor that over time. Of course, it also requires having the appropriate tools to do all this testing.

With respect to instrumental analysis, we recently obtained two new pieces of equipment from Agilent one of which is an MSD iQ, a mass selective detector, so they replace several of our old instruments will be using for sugar and other analyses. It's been really transformational actually. It allows us to test all of their honey for different analytes and manuka markers and it's greatly reduced our requirement for external testing.

The instrument has a very small footprint. Both the instrument and software are very easy to use. There’s been a lot less downtime and they both provide early maintenance feedback. It's really good.

We've been well supported by Agilent in general, and their technicians in particular. We had the instrument set up in two days. The bones of a method at the conclusion of two days and we were running a valid data method a week later.

The detector allows us to discriminate based on mass. We're no longer relying on pristine chromatography having to separate all the constituents. The method has gone from 60 minutes down to 10. It’s going to greatly increase our scope of testing, certainly for analytes amenable to mass spectrometry. Ultimately, the more information we have, the better informed we are.

As the industry has grown, I suspect there has been a move to a greater degree of instrumental analysis, which might be a little bit more complex. Also, I think it's really important to implement robust quality systems, sooner rather than later, because these have to be monitored over time to gauge the performance.

Keeping in mind that the changing regulatory environments, we're often subject to the dictates of the export markets. It's really important to be proactive rather than reactive perhaps anticipating some of the directions that we may go in that respect. Again this requires the tools to do so, but if you have enough decent analytical hammers, you can swing them at a range of analytical problems.