Pollen Count (Louveaux Method)
Definition
A quantitative assessment of pollen grains per 10 grams of honey. Below 10,000 grains per 10g suggests adulteration by dilution. The method, standardised by Louveaux, Maurizio, and Vorwohl in 1978, remains the baseline for honey pollen quantification.
- Standardized by
- Louveaux, Maurizio, Vorwohl, 1978
- Metric
- Pollen grains per 10 grams of honey
- Adulteration threshold
- Below 10,000 grains per 10g suggests dilution
Common questions
Why can a low pollen count indicate adulteration rather than just a naturally pollen-poor honey?+
Certain honey types, such as those heavily filtered or blended with syrup, lose pollen density in ways genuine unprocessed honey typically does not, so an unusually low count combined with other chemical adulteration markers strengthens the case for dilution or filtration rather than natural variation alone.
Does pollen count alone confirm the botanical source of a honey sample?+
No. Pollen count establishes quantity, while identifying and counting the relative proportions of specific pollen types is a separate step, melissopalynological analysis, that together with the count supports claims about a honey's floral origin and authenticity.
Related terms
- Honey Reference Collection
- A set of pollen slides prepared from fresh flowers of honey-plant species, used for comparison when identifying pollen in honey samples. Differs...
- Indicator Plant
- A pollen type whose presence in a honey assemblage is highly diagnostic of a geographic origin because the plant only grows or...
- Melissopalynology
- The study of pollen in honey and bee products to determine botanical origin, geographic provenance, and product authenticity.
- Monofloral Honey
- Honey in which one plant species dominates the pollen assemblage (typically above 45% of the pollen sum), reflecting predominant bee foraging on...
- Multifloral Honey
- Honey produced from diverse plant sources with no single taxon dominant. Also called polyfloral or wildflower honey. The pollen assemblage reflects the...