Study and comparison of saffron quality produced in major centers of production in Khorasan provinces

In recent decades, the concept of quality of agricultural products has changed drastically and the quality of raw material is considered as a necessary prerequisite for the quality of the final processed product. With an aim of quality classification of saffron production centers in the provinces of Khorasan, the main components of marketability and quality of saffron (Crocin, Picrocrocin and Safranal) are determined using ultraviolet-visible light spectrum analysis and the ISO / TS 36322 standard. Product sampling was done from 14 centers of saffron production in Khorasan provinces including Safiabad, Qaen, Kashmar, Torbat Heydarieh, Khalil Abad, Bardaskan, Shahn Abad, Chakhmaq, Torbat-Jam, Faizabad, Sabzevar, Sarayan, Eshq Abad and Birjand. Harvest, stigma separation and drying was performed equally in all samples. Comparison of results to national and ISO standard showed that the Safranal content in all of the studied areas were lower than both Iran’s national standard and ISO standards. For Picrocrocin, the results for most of the studied centers were better than ISO standard. However, the results obtained from region numbers 2, 10, 11 and 12 did not reach the national standard of Iran and the products of region numbers 5, 8 and 9 were close to the lowest value in the standard. Region 12 had the lowest Crocin content which was lower than both ISO and national standards. All of the regions 2,5,10 and 14 had low Crocin content and did not reach the minimum quality of Iran’s national standard for Crocin content.