Food Fraud Quick Bites
Need to Focus on Crocus

By Susanne Kuehne

August 13, 2019

Categories: Compliance, Food Fraud Quick Bites, Food Labs, Food Manufacturing, Foodservice & Retail, RC - Food Fraud

Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Many food adulteration cases revolve around spices, since the profits can be significant. Genuine saffron is the world’s most costly spice by weight. Often, fraudsters blend real saffron threads, which are derived from saffron crocus flowers, with cheaper fibers from other plants. Saffron costs up to $9 per gram and is therefore a spice that is very tempting for fraudsters to adulterate. Product sold in the UK led to the seizure of 90 kg of fake saffron in Spain and subsequent arrest of two fraudsters.

Resource

Spirit FM News Team (August 6, 2019). “Fake saffron found in West Sussex sparks international investigation”. Spirit FM News.

About The Author

Susanne Kuehne

Sr. Manager, Business Development

Decernis

Susanne Kuehne joined Decernis in 2016 as senior manager, business development. She has 20+ years of experience in the chemicals, plastics, coatings and beverage spaces. Kuehne is located at the Washington, D.C. office, but is originally from the Stuttgart, Germany area. She studied chemistry and business in Germany, then worked for Grace GmbH in Worms, Germany before moving to the United States in 2000. She worked for Grace in the United States before joining the beverage industry for eight years. Kuehne’s focus is food contact and chemical industry clients world-wide, across the multiple disciplines Decernis covers.

Kuehne holds a Dipl.-Ing (FH) Farbe/Chemie from Fachhochschule fuer Druck, Stuttgart, and a Dipl.-Betriebswirt (FH) from AKAD Fachhochschule, Lahr.

Food Fraud Quick Bites Need to Focus on Crocus

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Food Fraud Quick Bites
Need to Focus on Crocus