Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Coupled with Unsupervised Methods for Advanced Saffron Authenticity...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Science
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Saffron's high market value makes it prone to adulteration with cheaper substances like safflower and turmeric.
• Existing detection methods, including ISO standards, struggle to identify these adulterants accurately, especially at levels up to 20% (w/w).
• There is a critical need for advanced, sensitive, and specific analytical techniques to ensure saffron quality and authenticity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) for detecting adulteration in saffron.
• To differentiate pure saffron from saffron adulterated with safflower and turmeric at various concentrations.
• To explore the semi-quantification of adulterant levels using TOF-SIMS.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of pure saffron and saffron adulterated with safflower and turmeric (5%, 10%, 20% w/w) using TOF-SIMS without sample pretreatment.
• Spectral data acquisition and analysis.
• Application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for pattern recognition and discrimination between samples.

Main Results:

• TOF-SIMS generated distinct spectral signatures for pure saffron, safflower, and turmeric.
• PCA successfully discriminated between pure saffron and adulterated samples across different inclusion levels.
• Characteristic peaks of safflower, along with amino and mineral peaks of saffron, were identified as key differentiating factors.

Conclusions:

• TOF-SIMS is a highly effective technique for identifying adulteration in saffron with safflower and turmeric.
• The method demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, capable of detecting adulterants at low concentrations.
• TOF-SIMS offers potential for semi-quantification of adulterant levels, contributing to robust quality control of saffron.