The objective of this research was to develop a novel high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC)method involving a simple sample preparation procedure for the rapid, low-cost, and sensitivequantitation of phenol in honey at levels of regulatory and practical importance. After proper dilutionof honey with water, the samples were analyzed by a gradient HPLC system, using a reversed-phase column with fluorescence detection at excitation and emission wavelengths of 270 and 300nm, respectively. The eluents applied were water-acetonitrile-85% orthophosphoric acid (10:10:0.01, v/v/v) and water-85% orthophosphoric acid (20:0.01, v/v). The retention time of phenol wasfound to be 14.1 min, and the limit of quantitation for phenol in honey was set at 5
g/kg. Overallrecovery was 98%. The proposed method has been successfully applied to real sample analysis.Keywords: Phenol; honey; sample preparation; HPLC; fluorescence detection