Market Assessment of a Honey Quality Test

蜂蜜是大多数加拿大养蜂人的主要收入来源。在过去的几年里，加拿大养蜂人每年生产超过4100万公斤的蜂蜜。天气，生产中的菌落数量和其他因素对蜂蜜的产量有很大的影响，但蜂蜜的价值在更大的范围内波动。在2014年和2015年，所有蜂蜜的农场价值约为2.1亿美元，但在2016年，同样数量的蜂蜜仅带来了1.57亿美元，主要是因为蜂蜜的散装价格急剧下降。在全球市场上，有许多因素可以影响商品价格，但一个主要问题是伪装成正品的廉价合成或掺假蜂蜜的数量，这可能会压低蜂蜜价格。对蜂蜜进行质量保证测试将有助于建立公众对产品的信任，并使生产商能够在当地和国际销售中将加拿大蜂蜜区分为优质产品，并为CFIA提供基于证据的工具，以阻止虚假或掺假蜂蜜的进口。这反过来又会使加拿大蜂蜜生产商和包装商受益，从而推高正宗加拿大蜂蜜的价格。布鲁克生物自旋公司开发了一种基于核磁共振（NMR）光谱的蜂蜜质量保证测试，但加拿大养蜂人一直不愿意使用它，更喜欢使用本土的解决方案。我们的行业合作伙伴Worker Bee Honey Company最近安装了一台400 MHz NMR，并正在寻求应用。与此同时，我们还开发了质谱（MS），以补充NMR数据，并可能提供更便宜的测试方法。在这里，我们将开发两种光谱方法，旨在确定筛选蜂蜜的最佳解决方案，包括成本和检测掺假的能力。此应用程序用于I2I计划的市场评估阶段，以确定蜂蜜质量测试的市场。

Honey is the primary source of income for most Canadian beekeepers. For the past few years, Canadian beekeepers have produced in excess of 41 million kilograms of honey annually. Weather, the number of colonies in production and other factors have a big impact on the amount of honey produced but the value of that honey fluctuates across a much wider range. In 2014 and 2015, the farmgate value of all honey produced was approximately $210M but, in 2016, the same amount of honey brought in only $157M, largely because the bulk price of honey dropped precipitously. In a world-wide market, there are many factors that can affect commodity prices but one major concern is the volume of cheap synthetic or adulterated honey disguised as an authentic product, which can drive down honey prices. Quality assurance testing for honey would help build public trust in the product and allow producers to distinguish Canadian honey as a premium product in local and international sales and provide the CFIA with an evidence-based tool for blocking imports of false or adulterated honey. This will, in turn, benefit Canadian honey producers and packers by pushing up prices of authentic Canadian honey. A quality assurance test for honey based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been developed by Bruker BioSpin but Canadian beekeepers have been reluctant to use it, preferring a home-grown solution. Our industry partner, Worker Bee Honey Company has recently installed a 400 MHz NMR and is seeking to apply it. In parallel, we have also been developing mass spectrometry (MS) to complement NMR data and, possibly, to provide a less expensive means of testing. Here we will develop the two spectroscopy approaches, aiming to determine the optimum solution for screening honey, both in terms of cost and ability to detect adulteration. This application is for the Market Assessment phase of the I2I program, to determine what the market for a honey quality test might be.**