Stingless bee honey has a distinctive flavor and sour taste compared to Apis mellifera honey. Currently, interest in farming stingless bees is growing among rural residents to meet the high demand for raw honey and honey-based products. Several studies on stingless bee honey have revealed various therapeutic properties for wound healing applications. These include antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and moisturizing properties related to wound healing. The development of stingless bee honey for wound healing applications, such as incorporation into hydrogels, has attracted researchers worldwide. As a result, the effectiveness of stingless bee honey against wound infections can be improved in the future to optimize healing rates. This paper reviewed the physicochemical and therapeutic properties of stingless bee honey and its efficacy in treating wound infection, as well as the incorporation of stingless bee honey into hydrogels for optimized wound dressing.

Green honey is exclusively available on the island of Banggi in Sabah, and its uniqueness sees the commodity being sold at a high market price. Therefore, green honey is prone to adulteration by unscrupulous individuals, possibly compromising the health of those consuming this food commodity for its curative properties. Moreover, an established standard for reducing sugar in green honey is unavailable. Ipso facto, the study aimed to profile green honey’s physical and chemical properties, such as its pH, moisture content, free acidity, ash content, electroconductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, DPPH, colour, total sugar content, total protein content, and heavy metals as well as volatile organic compounds, the data of which are profoundly valuable in safeguarding consumers’ safety while providing information for its quality certification for local consumption and export. The results revealed that the honey’s physicochemical profile is comparable to other reported kinds of honey. The honey’s naturally green colour is because of the chlorophyll from the nectar from various flowers on the island. The raw honey showed free acidity between 28 and 33 Meq/100 g, lower than the standard’s 50 Meq/100 g. The hydroxymethylfurfural content is the lowest compared to other reported honey samples, with the total phenolic content between 16 and 19 mg GAE/100 g. The honey’s reducing sugar content is lower (~37.9%) than processed ones (56.3%) because of water removal. The protein content ranged from 1 to 2 gm/kg, 4- to 6-fold and 2-fold higher than local and manuka honey, respectively. The exceptionally high content of trans-4-hydroxyproline in raw honey is its source of collagen and other healing agents. Interestingly, low levels of arsenic, lead, nickel, cadmium, copper, and cobalt were detected in the honey samples, presumably due to their subterranean hives. Nevertheless, the honey is fit for general consumption as the concentrations were below the maxima in the Codex Alimentarius Commission of 2001.

Objectives: Pollen is a useful tool for identifying the provenance and complex ecosystems surrounding honey production in Malaysian forests. As native key pollinators in Malaysia, Apis dorsata and Heterotrigona itama forage on various plant/pollen species to collect honey. This study aims to generate a dataset that uncovers the presence of these plant/pollen species and their relative abundance in the honey of A. dorsata and H. itama. The information gathered from this study can be used to determine the geographical and botanical origin and authenticity of the honey produced by these two species. Results: Sequence data were obtained for both A. dorsata and H. itama. The raw sequence data for A. dorsata was 5 Mb, which was assembled into 5 contigs with a size of 6,098,728 bp, an N50 of 15,534, and a GC average of 57.42. Similarly, the raw sequence data for H. itama was 6.3 Mb, which was assembled into 11 contigs with a size of 7,642,048 bp, an N50 of 17,180, and a GC average of 55.38. In the honey sample of A. dorsata, we identified five different plant/pollen species, with only one of the five species exhibiting a relative abundance of less than 1%. For H. itama, we identified seven different plant/pollen species, with only three of the species exhibiting a relative abundance of less than 1%. All of the identified plant species were native to Peninsular Malaysia, especially the East Coast area of Terengganu. Data description: Our data offers valuable insights into honey’s geographical and botanical origin and authenticity. Metagenomic studies could help identify the plant species that honeybees forage and provide preliminary data for researchers studying the biological development of A. dorsata and H. itama. The identification of various flowers from the eDNA of honey that are known for their medicinal properties could aid in regional honey with accurate product origin labeling, which is crucial for guaranteeing product authenticity to consumers.

Although wound dressings are essential to protect wound from infection, these wound care products have limited function in facilitating wound healing. This study aimed to synthesize multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/quercetin (QUE)/chitosan (CS) blended composite membrane and analyze their physicochemical properties for wound dressing application in comparison to the pure chitosan (CS) membrane. The MWCNT/QUE/CS blended membranes were prepared by mixing CS, QUE and MWCNT at a ratio of 3:1:1 using a solvent casting method. The membranes were analyzed physicochemically for their surface morphology, elemental composition, structural composition, wettability, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and swelling properties and were compared to the pure CS membrane. The findings pointed out that the blend of MWCNTs and QUE in the CS matrix produces a membrane with uneven and more hydrophilic surface with water contact angle of 64.70°± 3.7 and low WVTR of 16.26 g/m2.day after 24 h. The swelling analysis showed that the blended membrane was able to absorb more than 60% of water within 10 minutes, although lower than the pure CS membrane. This study revealed that MWCNT/QUE/CS blended membrane could possibly be used as a wound dressing as it may promote moist environment needed for wound healing in addition to its antibacterial and antioxidant properties that may accelerate wound healing process.