Meet the editors

Dr. Muhammad Imran is an associate professor in the Department of Food Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. He obtained a Ph.D. in Food Technology from the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Pakistan. His doctoral research was funded by the Indigenous Fellowship Program, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, and

the International Research Support Initiative Programme (IRSIP), Michigan State University, USA. He has expertise in extrusion technology, microencapsulation, lipids chemistry, sensory evaluation, and food process engineering. To date, Dr. Imran has authored more than 100 publications (international and national) in various journals and 15 book chapters. He has attended several international conferences as an invited and keynote speaker and helped organize numerous seminars and workshops.

Dr. Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science, at Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. Prior to this, he was an assistant professor at the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. He received his doctoral degree from Hohenheim University, Germany, in 2016. During his stay there, he served as a research associate for

projects in various food disciplines. Dr. Ahmad is the author of fifty publications and twenty book chapters. He has presented his work at various national and international conferences. His area of research is food science with special expertise in process analytics and data mining.

Dr. Rabia Shabir Ahmad is an associate professor with a strong background in academics, teaching, and research. She successfully completed doctoral research funded by the Indigenous Fellowship Program, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan. During her academic career, Dr. Ahmad was awarded and successfully completed a Start-Up Research Grant Program (SRGP) and National Research Program for Universities

(NRPU) project from the HEC as Principal Investigator on honey and its analysis through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Along with her teaching and research supervising responsibilities, Dr. Ahmad is also a reviewer for different research journals. She has published numerous research papers in international and national journals and edited several books.

## Contents



Preface

Even in this age of digitalization and technological advancements, natural food items are highly sought after and consumed. Among various natural products, honey stands alone as a supersaturated solution of sugars with a complex chemical composition prepared by honeybees in a beehive. The chemical composition of honey is dependent on beekeeping practices, climatic conditions, type of honeybee species, and botanical source. It is a complex mixture of numerous types of bioactive components such as phenolics, enzymes, organic acids, peptides, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that have beneficial health effects in combatting various diseases and cancers and in wound healing. Honey is considered the world's oldest medicine and is being studied as a therapeutic agent in modern medicine due to its inhibitory effect against microbial infections. Additionally, it acts as a natural preservative in many food applications. There is a plethora of literature that describes the physicochemical, geographical origin, and authentication of honey in this modern era. This book focuses on honey production in beehives and provides information on honey's geographical, entomological, and botanical origins. It also examines modern beekeeping technologies and honey's therapeutic potential to combat various maladies. Furthermore, the book

**Muhammad Imran and Rabia Shabir Ahmad**

Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF),

Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF),

Associate Professors, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Food Science,

Faisalabad, Pakistan

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Food Science,

Faisalabad, Pakistan

**Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad**

describes the utilization of honey in processed food items.
