Geographical classification of Italian saffron (Crocus sativus L.) based on chemical constituents determined by high-performance liquid-chromatography and by using linear discriminant analysis.

One hundred and forty-four Italian saffron samples produced in the years from 2009 to 2015 in five distinct areas located in four different regions, Abruzzo (L'Aquila), Tuscany (Florence), Umbria (Cascia and Città della Pieve) and Sardinia, have been analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. Intensities of the chromatographic peaks attributed to crocins, safranal, picrocrocin and its derivatives and flavonoids were considered as variables in linear discriminant analysis to attempt geographical classification. The results revealed that spices produced at different sites of the Italian territory can be discriminated with good accuracy. The differentiation of saffron cultivated in Sardinia from those produced in Central Italy was mainly attributed to different contents of the most abundant crocins. Good differentiation of spices produced in close sites of Central Italy was also observed, 88% of validation samples being correctly classified; some minor crocins are responsible for such discrimination.

[1]  Angela Maurizi,et al.  Characterisation of secondary metabolites in saffron from central Italy (Cascia, Umbria). , 2014, Food chemistry.

[2]  C. Pappas,et al.  Differentiation of saffron from four countries by mid-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis , 2010 .

[3]  J. Spink,et al.  Development and application of a database of food ingredient fraud and economically motivated adulteration from 1980 to 2010. , 2012, Journal of food science.

[4]  M. Marina,et al.  Metabolomic fingerprinting of saffron by LC/MS: novel authenticity markers , 2015, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.

[5]  Manuel Carmona,et al.  Geographical origin differentiation of saffron spice (Crocus sativus L. stigmas) - Preliminary investigation using chemical and multi-element (H, C, N) stable isotope analysis. , 2011, Food chemistry.

[6]  Josep Rubert,et al.  Saffron authentication based on liquid chromatography high resolution tandem mass spectrometry and multivariate data analysis. , 2016, Food chemistry.

[7]  Massimo F. Marcone,et al.  Chemical and biological properties of the world's most expensive spice: Saffron , 2010 .

[8]  A. A. D’Archivio,et al.  Analysis of the mineral composition of Italian saffron by ICP-MS and classification of geographical origin. , 2014, Food chemistry.

[9]  A. Zalacain,et al.  Generation of saffron volatiles by thermal carotenoid degradation. , 2006, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[10]  Amaya Zalacain,et al.  Near-infrared spectroscopy in saffron quality control: determination of chemical composition and geographical origin. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[11]  C. Pappas,et al.  Geographical differentiation of saffron by GC–MS/FID and chemometrics , 2009 .

[12]  A. Zalacain,et al.  Influence of different drying and aging conditions on saffron constituents. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[13]  Theofanis Sapatinas,et al.  Discriminant Analysis and Statistical Pattern Recognition , 2005 .

[14]  A. Zalacain,et al.  Identification of the flavonoid fraction in saffron spice by LC/DAD/MS/MS: Comparative study of samples from different geographical origins , 2007 .

[15]  G. Alonso,et al.  Determination of free amino acids and ammonium ion in saffron (Crocus sativus L.) from different geographical origins , 2009 .

[16]  G. Lin,et al.  Simultaneous quantification of five major biologically active ingredients of saffron by high-performance liquid chromatography. , 1999, Journal of chromatography. A.

[17]  P. Tarantilis,et al.  Determination of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) components in crude plant extract using high-performance liquid chromatography-UV-visible photodiode-array detection-mass spectrometry. , 1995, Journal of chromatography. A.

[18]  G. Alonso,et al.  Saffron Flavor: Compounds Involved, Biogenesis and Human Perception , 2010 .

[19]  A. C. Rencher.  Methods of multivariate analysis , 1995 .

[20]  A. Zalacain,et al.  Crocetin esters, picrocrocin and its related compounds present in Crocus sativus stigmas and Gardenia jasminoides fruits. Tentative identification of seven new compounds by LC-ESI-MS. , 2006, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[21]  A. Romani,et al.  PTR-TOF-MS and HPLC analysis in the characterization of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) from Italy and Iran. , 2016, Food chemistry.

[22]  G. Alonso,et al.  Potential Healthy Effects of Saffron Spice ( Crocus sativus L . Stigmas ) Consumption , 2010 .

[23]  Domenico Guida,et al.  Classification and mapping of the ecoregions of Italy , 2014 .

[24]  J. Iborra,et al.  A quantitative high-performance liquid chromatographic method to analyse commercial saffron (Crocus sativus L.) products. , 1999 .

[25]  Rogelio Pereda-Miranda,et al.  HPLC quantification of major active components from 11 different saffron (Crocus sativus L.) sources , 2007 .

[26]  G. Alonso,et al.  Picrocrocin content and quality categories in different (345) worldwide samples of saffron ( Crocus sativus L.). , 2010, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[27]  N. Davies,et al.  Effect of drying temperature and air flow on the production and retention of secondary metabolites in saffron. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.