Analysis of Food Spices

Book excerpt: Spices are obtained from natural sources, especially from plants, and are used in cooking food in whole or grounded forms mainly for imparting flavor, aroma, and piquancy. Besides their role in improving food quality, spices also have health benefits that are anticancer, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, hypolipidemic, analgesic, immunostimulant, and more. Spices are generally marketed in powder form, and their supply chain is very long and complicated, which is why they are particularly susceptible to adulteration at many points. The spice supply chain is considered to be moderately vulnerable and has an ineffective quality detection system in its final product, which is the main risk factor. There are many types of fraud nowadays related to spices such as adulteration, falsification, substitution, and inaccurate labeling. Analysis of Food Spices: Identification and Authentication provides an overview of spices of different categories, such as terpenes and terpenoids, oleoresins, alkaloids, and polyphenolics and flavonoids, as well as qualitative and quantitative guidelines for ensuring their quality and safety using modern analytical tools and techniques. The first section of the book discusses the overview, sources, and health benefits of important categories of spices such as terpenes and terpenoids (cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, fennel), oleoresins (capsicum, ginger, nutmeg), alkaloids (black pepper, fenugreek), and polyphenolics and flavonoids (basil, turmeric, olive, saffron). In the second section, qualitative diagnostic features of spices are covered. In the third section, the roles of quantitative analytical techniques, such as HPLC, LC-MS, HPTLC, GC, and GC-MS, capillary electrophoresis (CE), and other recent techniques in the analysis of food spices, are also discussed. Each chapter concludes with a general reference section, which is a bibliographic guide to more advanced texts. Key Features Provides a detailed overview of different food spices of plant origin, and discusses their health benefits and uses of different analytical techniques in its quality control Explains how qualitative diagnostic features of food spices are utilized as quality control tools Describes applicability of analytical techniques like HPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS, HPTLC, and CE for quality control of food spices Emphasizes use of recent techniques such as proteomics, biosensors, and more in the analysis/quality control of food spices This book will provide important guidelines for controlling quality, safety, and efficacy issues related to food spices.