Cargando…

The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology

Saffron authenticity is important for the saffron industry, consumers, food industry, and regulatory agencies. Herein we describe a combo of two novel methods to distinguish genuine saffron from fake in a user-friendly manner and without sophisticated instruments. A smartphone coupled with Foldscope...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Husaini, Amjad M., Haq, Syed Anam Ul, Shabir, Asma, Wani, Amir B., Dedmari, Muneer A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9417335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36035668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.945291
_version_ 1784776690019336192
author Husaini, Amjad M.
Haq, Syed Anam Ul
Shabir, Asma
Wani, Amir B.
Dedmari, Muneer A.
author_facet Husaini, Amjad M.
Haq, Syed Anam Ul
Shabir, Asma
Wani, Amir B.
Dedmari, Muneer A.
author_sort Husaini, Amjad M.
collection PubMed
description Saffron authenticity is important for the saffron industry, consumers, food industry, and regulatory agencies. Herein we describe a combo of two novel methods to distinguish genuine saffron from fake in a user-friendly manner and without sophisticated instruments. A smartphone coupled with Foldscope was used to visualize characteristic features and distinguish “genuine” saffron from “fake.” Furthermore, destaining and staining agents were used to study the staining patterns. Toluidine blue staining pattern was distinct and easier to use as it stained the papillae and the margins deep purple, while its stain is lighter yellowish green toward the central axis. Further to automate the process, we tested and compared different machine learning-based classification approaches for performing the automated saffron classification into genuine or fake. We demonstrated that the deep learning-based models are efficient in learning the morphological features and classifying samples as either fake or genuine, making it much easier for end-users. This approach performed much better than conventional machine learning approaches (random forest and SVM), and the model achieved an accuracy of 99.5% and a precision of 99.3% on the test dataset. The process has increased the robustness and reliability of authenticating saffron samples. This is the first study that describes a customer-centric frugal science-based approach to creating an automated app to detect adulteration. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to assess saffron adulteration and quality. It revealed that only 40% of samples belonged to ISO Category I, while the average adulteration percentage in the remaining samples was 36.25%. After discarding the adulterants from crude samples, their quality parameters improved significantly, elevating these from ISO category III to Category II. Conversely, it also means that Categories II and III saffron are more prone to and favored for adulteration by fraudsters.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9417335
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-94173352022-08-27 The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology Husaini, Amjad M. Haq, Syed Anam Ul Shabir, Asma Wani, Amir B. Dedmari, Muneer A. Front Plant Sci Plant Science Saffron authenticity is important for the saffron industry, consumers, food industry, and regulatory agencies. Herein we describe a combo of two novel methods to distinguish genuine saffron from fake in a user-friendly manner and without sophisticated instruments. A smartphone coupled with Foldscope was used to visualize characteristic features and distinguish “genuine” saffron from “fake.” Furthermore, destaining and staining agents were used to study the staining patterns. Toluidine blue staining pattern was distinct and easier to use as it stained the papillae and the margins deep purple, while its stain is lighter yellowish green toward the central axis. Further to automate the process, we tested and compared different machine learning-based classification approaches for performing the automated saffron classification into genuine or fake. We demonstrated that the deep learning-based models are efficient in learning the morphological features and classifying samples as either fake or genuine, making it much easier for end-users. This approach performed much better than conventional machine learning approaches (random forest and SVM), and the model achieved an accuracy of 99.5% and a precision of 99.3% on the test dataset. The process has increased the robustness and reliability of authenticating saffron samples. This is the first study that describes a customer-centric frugal science-based approach to creating an automated app to detect adulteration. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to assess saffron adulteration and quality. It revealed that only 40% of samples belonged to ISO Category I, while the average adulteration percentage in the remaining samples was 36.25%. After discarding the adulterants from crude samples, their quality parameters improved significantly, elevating these from ISO category III to Category II. Conversely, it also means that Categories II and III saffron are more prone to and favored for adulteration by fraudsters. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9417335/ /pubmed/36035668 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.945291 Text en Copyright © 2022 Husaini, Haq, Shabir, Wani and Dedmari. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Husaini, Amjad M.
Haq, Syed Anam Ul
Shabir, Asma
Wani, Amir B.
Dedmari, Muneer A.
The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title_full The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title_fullStr The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title_full_unstemmed The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title_short The menace of saffron adulteration: Low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using Foldscope and machine learning technology
title_sort menace of saffron adulteration: low-cost rapid identification of fake look-alike saffron using foldscope and machine learning technology
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9417335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36035668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.945291
work_keys_str_mv AT husainiamjadm themenaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT haqsyedanamul themenaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT shabirasma themenaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT waniamirb themenaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT dedmarimuneera themenaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT husainiamjadm menaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT haqsyedanamul menaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT shabirasma menaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT waniamirb menaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology
AT dedmarimuneera menaceofsaffronadulterationlowcostrapididentificationoffakelookalikesaffronusingfoldscopeandmachinelearningtechnology