| Abstract: |
Quality of saffron in India has come under the scanner with a recent study pointing out that the commodity sold in India failed to meet any quality parameters of Grades-I and II, and about half the samples drawn for testing were adulterated. The study, conducted by a team led by Gulab Khedkar, professor, molecular biology; director, Paul Hebert Centre for DNA Barcoding and Biodiversity Studies, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, questioned as to how a commodity that is premium and scarce in production, is widely used in the country. He drew attention to the fact, “India has no policy to check the quality. Surprisingly, all the products are marked under the standard laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which states that the product is safe to consume.”Meanwhile another study, which was conducted by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, presented contrasting viewpoints. This second study proved that none of its 36 saffron samples collected for testing from 17 locations were sub-standard or adulterated. |
