Annex White book.pdf

QUALITY DETERMINATIONTECHNIQUES IN SPAIN, GREECEAND ITALYIt is difficult to define the term“saffron quality”, since there is a largenumber of parameters that have tobe evaluated. In a simplified way, allthese parameters can be separatedin two larger groups: endogenousparameters (those defining the featurespossessed by the spice) and exogenousparameters (those that arenot part of the spice). Further on, thefirst group can be separated in twosubgroups: physiochemical parameterssuch as humidity, ashes content,coloring intensity etc, defined by specificevaluation techniques, and organolepticparameters, defined by a sensoryanalysis. Exogenous parameterscertify, through quality controls, thepurity of the spice and ensure thatthe amount of bacterial flora andpesticides are lower than the amountdefined by law. The following chapterdescribes all applied techniques usedfor quality determination in the threeregions.Saffron flowers in atypical Spanish basket(UCLM)A4.1PHYSIOCHEMICAL DE-TERMINATIONThis group concentrates all parametersused for quality control such ascoloring intensity or humidity content.The most significant difference amongthe three regions studied herein, is thereference framework for quality determination.Hence, while Sardinia ap-141