Identification of adulterants added to beeswax: Estimation of detectable minimum percentages

The minimum percentages of adulteration of pure beeswax from Apis mellifera with three paraffins of different melting points and with cow tallow, stearic acid and carnauba wax that can be detected by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection were established. The concentrations of 93 endogenous beeswax compounds such as aliphatic hydrocarbons, olefins, acids, monoesters, alcohols and hydroxyacids were measured in relation to an internal standard (octadecyl octadecanoate) in mixtures of beeswax with the six adulterants; the variation of the concentrations of the compounds with the adulteration percentage was also studied. Percentages higher than 1-4% of each adulterant can be detected in the mixtures. The added adulterant can be identified by the non-endogenous beeswax compounds observed in the chromatogram; the changes in the concentrations of some beeswax compounds are also useful to corroborate the identification.