Classification of Italian honeys by mid-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRIFTS)

Diffuse reflectance mid-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and multivariate statistical analysis methods were used for the identification and classification of honey from different floral sources. The 82 honey samples (robinia, chestnut, citrus, polyfloral) were scanned by DRIFTS in the region 4000–600 cm⁻¹ and also transformed in 1st and 2nd derivatives. Spectral data were analyzed by principal component analysis, general discriminant analysis and classification tree analysis. Classification accuracy near 100% was obtained by discriminant and classification tree analyses. Classification models were successfully validated with one-third leave out method and a classification of about 100% were achieved.