Abstract
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world and therefore is subjected to fraudulent practices. One of such practices is importation and rebranding of saffron cheaper growing areas to be passed off as areas of higher quality. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that mineral profiling combined with chemometrics could separate saffron sourced from different origins. To this end, nine minerals were quantified in saffron harvested from twelve different areas using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer. Little variations were revealed among studied sites confirming the homogeneity of the saffron produced in Morocco. Potassium was the major macroelement, while Iron was found to be the major microelement. Data were compared with similar studies previously reported for saffron from other major production countries. Separation of Moroccan saffron from that of other countries was possible based on multi-element profiling combined with principal component analysis.
Published Version
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