Tag Archives: Iran

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

The Interrupted Supply Chain Of Crocus Sativus

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Saffron, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database, owned and operated by Decernis, a Food Safety Tech advertiser. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne.

Iran is producing the lion share of saffron, the most precious spice, worldwide. One kilogram of saffron requires weeks of backbreaking work and the manual processing of around 170,000 flowers. Smuggling of what is also called “Red Gold”, and fraudulent and counterfeit saffron, are now million-dollar endeavors, as revealed by Europol and other investigations. From illegal food dyes like lead chromate, to herbs, to corn-on-the-cob strings, saffron is adulterated in many ways to enable fraudsters a participation in this $500 million market.

Resource

  1. Milmo, C. (January 22, 2022). “Saffron: How the lustre of Iran’s ‘red gold’ is threatened by smuggling and counterfeiting as sanctions bite”. iNews.