Log in

Detection of Plant-Derived Adulterants in Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by HS-SPME/GC-MS Profiling of Volatiles and Chemometrics

  • Published:
Food Analytical Methods Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS) coupled with headspace-solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) was used to analyse the aroma profile of genuine saffron (Crocus sativus L.) and samples of this spice artificially adulterated with Calendula officinalis L. petals (calendula), Carthamus tinctorius L. petals (safflower) and Curcuma longa L. powdered rhizomes (turmeric). Preliminary analyses of genuine saffron and pure contaminants were performed to select the kind of SPME sorbent. Moreover, an experimental design combined with response surface methodology was applied to optimise the sample temperature and the fibre exposure time with the aim of enhancing the detection of the above adulterants in counterfeited saffron samples. The GC-MS chromatograms collected under the optimised conditions were finally handled by unsupervised and supervised multivariate statistical methods to differentiate the genuine saffron samples produced in three different Italian regions from artificially adulterated samples at 2–5% w/w contamination levels. Thirty genuine and 30 counterfeited (10 for each kind of adulterant) saffron samples were analysed. Principal component analysis was applied to assist the choice of the GC/MS data pre-treatment and classification of genuine and adulterated saffron samples was attempted by partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Predictive performance of PLS-DA models calibrated with 42 samples was finally tested on 18 saffron samples (9 genuine and 9 adulterated). All the external saffron samples were correctly classified regardless of the kind of contaminant, while in calibration, only a saffron sample contaminated with safflower was erroneously assigned to the group of genuine ones. Class modelling of genuine saffron performed by SIMCA (Soft Independent Model Class Analogy) exhibited a good sensitivity and 100% specificity for external adulterated samples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Canada)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angelo Antonio D’Archivio.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Francesca Di Donato declares that she has no conflict of interest. Angelo Antonio D’Archivio declares that he has no conflict of interest. Maria Anna Maggi declares that she has no conflict of interest. Leucio Rossi declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

ESM 1

(DOCX 294 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Di Donato, F., D’Archivio, A.A., Maggi, M.A. et al. Detection of Plant-Derived Adulterants in Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by HS-SPME/GC-MS Profiling of Volatiles and Chemometrics. Food Anal. Methods 14, 784–796 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-020-01941-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-020-01941-x

Keywords

Navigation