The price of Cinnamomum verum (Ceylon cinnamon) is around twice as high as that of the other cinnamon varieties commonly grouped under the name cassia cinnamon, making of the former spice an attractive target for fraudsters. This work demonstrates that elemental profiles obtained by Energy Dispersive-X Ray Fluorescence in combination with multivariate analyses, can be used as screening method to detect Ceylon cinnamon adulteration. Thirty-six elements were analysed in 52 commercially available cinnamon samples, 29 Ceylon, 8 cassia and 15 for which no indication about variety was provided. Fifty-eight per cent of the samples was either adulterated or did not met international quality criteria. Four of the ground cinnamon samples labelled as Ceylon cinnamon were found to be pure cassia or a mixture with a high cassia content, and 26 samples were suspect of other types of adulteration including replacement of bark with other parts of the cinnamon tree. Head Space-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, and ash determination by thermogravimetric analysis confirmed the conclusions reached by elemental analysis. Only one sample labelled as Ceylon cinnamon and that according to its volatile composition was cassia cinnamon, was not flagged as suspicious by elemental analysis.

GHIDOTTI Michele;  PAPOCI Sergej;  PIETRETTI Danilo;  ŽDINIAKOVÁ Tereza;  DE LA CALLE GUNTINAS Maria Beatriz; 

2024-01-16

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

JRC130214

1618-2642 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-023-04817-1,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130214,   

10.1007/s00216-023-04817-1 (online),