Trade sanctions make Iranian Saffron an easy target for fraudsters: Iran is producing the lion share of saffron, the most precious spice, world-wide. 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.

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Picture Credit Susanne Kuehne

Posted on 14 March 2022