PESQUISAS DE FRAUDES EM MÉIS NO ESTADO DO PARÁ, BRASIL.

The adoption of fraudulents practices is common in the honey production chain and is associated with the popularity of this food and the difficulty of detecting adulteration of the honey with the naked eye or by tasting. The objective of this work was to verify if fraudulent practices are adopted in honeys sold in the state of Pará. To carry out the research, 14 commercial samples of honeys from 06 (six) municipalities, in the state of Pará, were submitted to Lund, Fiehe, Lugol and melissopalinology. The results obtained showed 57.14% of the samples showed a change in the precipitate for Lund's reaction, indicating a change in protein content. The intense blue staining in the Lugol reaction was observed in 64.28% of the samples, indicating a possible addition of starch. In addition, 85.71% of the samples showed a color change for the Fiehe reaction, indicating a change in the hydroxymethylfurfural content. Pollen content was observed in only 35.71% of the samples and only 21.42% of the total samples analyzed were considered authentic through the analyzes performe. We conclude that the authenticity tests, when applied together, were able to detect fraud in honey samples marketed in the state of Pará and that adulterations in the honey commercially available in the target region of the study are a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]