Physico-chemical parameters for the characterization of pure beeswax and detection of adulterations

摘要

Pure beeswaxes produced in different climatic regions of Spain have been characterized by the determination of nine physico-chemical parameters:density,acid,saponi-fication,ester,ratio number,iodine,peroxide,melting point and ash content values.The official methods of analysis to determine density and saponification values in fats and oils were not suitable for beeswaxes;alternative methods are proposed in this work for both parameters.After verifying the precision of the methods and the value guidelines,the usefulness of the physico-chemical parameters to detect adulterations with paraffin,stearic acid,carnauba wax and tallow was tested:adulteration percentages of 5%,or higher,were commonly detected.Marketed foundation beeswax sheets,rejected or badly accepted by the bees,were also analyzed to discuss their quality;25 out of 27 beeswax sheets show anomalous values for at least one parameter.