Distinguishing between raw honey from Japanese and European honey bees using loop-mediated isothermal amplification

We used loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to develop primers capable of discriminating between honey made in Japan from either the Japanese honey bee (Apis cerana) or the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). LAMP primers were designed for the mitochondrial COXII gene, which has been shown to exhibit interspecies variation in these honey bees. Identification of the honey bee species could be completed within approximately 60 min with 100 % accuracy. The origin of honey that had been stored at room temperature for more than 380 days could also be identified within approximately 60 min. This DNA analysis method is the first that can distinguish between honey produced from different honey bee species.