Current Status and Hotspot Analysis of Honey Safety Research Based on CiteSpace

In order to sort out the research process and hotspots of honey safety, this paper was based on the China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) database and the Web of Science (WOS) core collection, utilizing CiteSpace software to analyze and visualize publication trends, journals, authors, institutions, countries (regions), keywords, and other relevant information. The aforementioned databases yielded a total of 169 Chinese and 281 English literatures. The analysis revealed that the number of publications in Chinese literature on honey safety had been steadily increasing since 2011. The number of publications in English literature had displayed an oscillating upward trend since 2007, with a higher volume of publications in English literature over the past fifteen years compared to Chinese literature. ZHANG Q and GUNDUZ A were the most prolific authors in Chinese and English literature, respectively. While there were established cooperative relationships between researchers in both fields, collaborations between different groups remained relatively limited. Journal of Bee and Food Chemistry were the leading journals for publications on honey safety in English and Chinese, respectively. Both English and Chinese publishing journals primarily focused on the food industry. Yunnan Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Karadeniz Technical University were the research institutions with the highest publication output in Chinese and English, respectively. However, there was limited collaboration between research institutes in China. Turkey was the most influential country among the study countries (regions), followed by China, Poland, and New Zealand. During the initial stages of research, Chinese literature primarily explored topics such as "botulinum toxin" "pollen plants" "Triperygium wilfordii Hook. f." and "honey poisoning". However, after 2000, advancements in technologies such as chromatography, spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy led to the emergence of new keywords like "melissopalynology" and "gas chromatography". Consequently, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, liquid-mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy gained popularity as methods for detecting honey safety in research. During the early stages of research, English literature primarily delved into topics such as "pyrrolizidine alkaloids" "mad honey" "grayanotoxin" and "natural toxicants". This indicates that during this time, the primary emphasis was on studying toxic honey and natural toxins found in honey, specifically pyrrolizidine alkaloids and grayanotoxin. As technologies such as chromatography advanced, keywords like "mass spectrometry" began to emerge. It could be seen that the research in Chinese and English literature was focused on similar topics, such as toxic honey, honey poisoning, and the detection and tracing of toxic components in honey. However, there were slight differences in emphasis. In China, the main toxic nectar plants were Triperygium wilfordii Hook. f., Gelsemium elegans (Gardn. & Champ.) Benth. and Macleaya cordata (Willd.) R. Br., while the main toxic components detected in honey were triptolide and koumine. In foreign countries, honey poisoning incidents were mostly caused by grayanotoxin, pyrrolizidine alkaloids or tutin. This study provides reference for analyzing the research content and development process of honey safety and identifying research hotspots.