Exploring the Potential of 87Sr/86Sr Isotope Ratio with Strontium and Rubidium Levels to Assess the Geographic Origin of Saffron

Abstract

Saffron is regarded as the most expensive spice, mainly because of its laborious harvest. Only a few countries dominate the global saffron market, with Iran producing by far the most saffron, and the saffron production of all other countries thus being much smaller. However, the respective national production (not only of saffron) is usually preferred by local consumers with respect to foreign products and often has a higher price. Cases of saffron with mislabeled geographic origin have repeatedly occurred. Thus, to protect local saffron production, control of the declared geographic origin is required. In the present case, differentiation of the geographic origin by 87Sr/86Sr is performed. The results show the saffron of several countries of origin to vary within the range of marine carbonates; however, saffron samples of Moroccan and Indian origin mainly show elevated 87Sr/86Sr values. Within the Indian saffron samples, one sample from Kishtwar Valley can be differentiated from the Kashmir saffron samples. The results are thus promising, especially when using the combination of Sr and Rb concentrations to differentiate geographic origin whenever the regions are of homogenous bedrock geology within and of different geology between the regions. However, the reported findings need to be checked and confirmed by further and additional saffron samples.

Influence of Geographical Origin on Isotopic and Elemental Compositions of Pork Meat

“…LDA results show that four pork meat samples from a foreign group were assigned to the group from Romania, and three samples from the Romanian group were predicted as samples from abroad. It is not surprising to obtain a 2 H isotope fingerprint as a significant discrimination parameter, δ 2 H being a recognized marker for geographical origin identification [59,60]. These results are supported by another previously published study from our team [61], in which δ 2 H and Ti represented statistically significant predictors for geographical origin discrimination of Transylvanian (Romania) carrot samples.…”

“…THQ and HI results were far lower (Table 4), which suggests a minimal risk of noncarcinogenic consequence per metal for consumers that eat the investigated pork meat Rb ions act like K ions for living organisms [62], and the body treating Rb ions like K ions. Rubidium (Rb) was also recorded as a differentiation predictor for geographical origin in other published studies for rice [63], sesame seeds [64], typical Italian alpine cheeses [65], beef samples [66,67], and saffron [59]. It seems that soil acidity, a lower pH of the soil, influences Rb absorption by plants [64].…”