Geographical authentication of saffron by chemometrics applied to the ion mobility spectrometry data

Nayereh Shamshiri; Reza Fattahi; Ahmad Mani-Varnosfaderani; Mohsen Barzegar; Mohammad Ali Sahari

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2024.101455

Geographical authentication of saffron by chemometrics applied to the ion mobility spectrometry data

Food Chem X. 2024 May 10:22:101455. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2024.101455. eCollection 2024 Jun 30.

Authors

Nayereh Shamshiri¹, Reza Fattahi¹, Ahmad Mani-Varnosfaderani², Mohsen Barzegar¹, Mohammad Ali Sahari¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P. O. Box 14115-336, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P. O. Box 14115-175, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

There is a lack of a reliable tool for quickly determining the geographical origins of saffron (SFR). Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has emerged as a promising method for rapid authentication. In this study, 232 Iranian SFR samples harvested in five distinct areas (Khorasan, Azerbaijan, Golestan, Fars, and Isfahan) were analyzed by IMS coupled with chemometric methods. The principal component analysis (PCA) was applied for analyzing the collected IMS data, utilizing three principle components (PCs) that accounted for 81 % of the explained variance. Moreover, the partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) demonstrated the average sensitivity and specificity rates, of 72.3 % to 92.5 % for the exernal test set and 75.5 % to 94.3 % for training set. The accuracy values were ≥ 85.0 % for the prediction set for all classes of samples. The results of this study revealed a successful application of IMS and chemometric methods for rapid geographical authentication of saffron samples in Iran.

Keywords: Authentication; Ion mobility spectrometry; Multivariate statistical analysis, Geographical origin; Saffron (Crocus sativus L.).