title: On the Traceability of Commercial Saffron Samples Using ¹H-NMR and FT-IR Metabolomics.
abstract: In previous works on authentic samples of saffron of known history (harvest and processing year, storage conditions, and length of time) some biomarkers were proposed using both FT-IR and NMR metabolomics regarding the shelf life of the product. This work addresses the difficulties to trace back the "age" of commercial saffron samples of unknown history, sets a limit value above which these products can be considered substandard, and offers a useful tool to combat saffron mislabeling and fraud with low-quality saffron material. Investigations of authentic and commercial saffron samples of different origin and harvest year, which had been stored under controlled conditions for different lengths of time, allowed a clear-cut clustering of samples in two groups according to the storage period irrespectively of the provenience. In this respect, the four-year cut off point proposed in our previous work assisted to trace back the "age" of unknown samples and to check for possible mislabeling practices.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Macromolecular Studies, NMR Laboratory, National Research Council, v. Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy. roberto.consonni@ismac.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Consonni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology (LFCT), School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. steord@chem.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Stella A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ordoudi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Macromolecular Studies, NMR Laboratory, National Research Council, v. Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy. lauraruth.cagliani@ismac.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Laura R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Cagliani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology (LFCT), School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. mariatsiangali@outlook.com.gr.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsiangali
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology (LFCT), School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. tsimidou@chem.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Maria Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Tsimidou
mesh_terms: D027622:Crocus / Q000737:chemistry*; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D066244:Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D011786:Quality Control; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
keywords: FT-IR, NMR; metabolomics; saffron mislabeling; saffron traceability