ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s, food safety has caused widespread concern from all walks of life. According to the theory of bibliometrics and scientific knowledge map and knowledge mining method, this paper quantitatively analyzed and visualized 3024 food safety papers and 31032 references in the core collection of Web of Science (WoS) to explore their research status, topic evolution and development trend. The number of academic papers in the field of international food safety increased by 11 times during the past 31 years;the knowledge structure of this field consists of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, food safety cognition, public health and food safety management;its research topics showed an evolution from consumer behavior and food-borne diseases to food safety risk management, food safety governance, food traceability system, food testing, to food global value chain, heavy metal excess, pesticide residues, food safety culture, to blockchain technology, Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, food fraud;food safety knowledge and willingness to pay premium, food contamination, aquatic seafood safety, vegetable safety, blockchain, COVID-19 represent the frontier trends, so as to provide references for academic research and government supervision in this field.
ABSTRACT
One of the empirical and image products of the Republic of Moldova is bee honey. Its assortment is due to the variety of landforms, as well as the diversity of flora specific to geographical regions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic consumers had limited access to bee honey. This was caused by the restrictions imposed in order to organize fairs and agricultural markets which are one of the main sources for the purchase of bee products in the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the analysis of trademarks in supermarkets highlighted the preferences of honey consumption as follows: polyfloral honey-28.57%, lime honey-20.40% and acacia honey-14.28%. In order to evaluate the quality of honey from small producers and highlight the specific characteristics of geographical areas, 60 samples were analyzed that included 3 types of honey: polyflora, sunflower and linden collected from 3 different geographic areas: Soroca area (North), area Ungheni (Center), Stefan Voda area (South). Honey samples were declared harvest of 2020. They were analyzed physico-chemically using methods provided by national and EU standards. The results obtained from the analysis of pollen in honey confirm the botanical origin declared by beekeepers and allowed to highlight the types of pollen specific to each area. Following the determination of qualitative indices: reaction with ethyl alcohol, with resorcinol;insoluble matter, cereal flour, gelatin and starch, it was found that the most inconsistencies were found in linden honey. Some indicators were close to the maximum permissible values specified in regulatory documents. The water content found in the honey samples was quite varied, and ranged from 16.05% +or- 0.11% to 19.89% +or- 0.13%, but these samples were within the limits of the standards. Total acidity ranged from 6.19 +or- 0.13 to 27.20 +or- 0.03 which falls within the established norms (up to 50.00 cm3 NaOH solution in (milliequivalents) per 100 g of honey). According to the SIE Lab space, all samples have a yellowish tint, this is indicated by positive values on the b* axis. However, honey samples from the southern region of Moldova showed the presence of greenish pollen, as evidenced by the reduced values on the a* axis. Our research reveals the quality level of honey from three different areas of the Republic of Moldova and the variation of quality parameters due to factors such as geographical region, climatic conditions, botanical origin and handling or storage conditions.