SaffronOMICS: the international dimension and impact of the scientific achievements of a European COST ACTION project

M.Z. Tsimidou
The COST ACTION FA1101 “Omics Technologies for Crop Improvement, Traceability, Determination of Authenticity, Adulteration and Origin in Saffron” known with the acronym “SaffronOMICS” (November 2011-November 2015) aimed from the very beginning to bring all interested parties and countries to work together “to build up a network of collaborative research on the structural organization of saffron genome, DNA fingerprinting, chemical fingerprinting, proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics of this crop. Saffron is the highest priced high value agricultural product (HVAP) in the world. Crocus sativus L. cultivation has strong links in the agricultural sector of many countries and it appears in literature and other historical documents. So far research teams in the major European producing countries have closely collaborated with producers and stakeholders for the sustainability of the crop, improvement in quality and safety of saffron and authenticity issues through a series of national and European funds. The presentation covers the international dimension and impact of the scientific, educational and dissemination activities of this project. Focus is mainly on (a) quality aspects of commercial saffron samples analyzed throughout the project and the implication of findings to combat food fraud, (b) educational material prepared for both pupils 6-18 years old and consumers within the frame of consumer education principles in Europe, (c) achievements of the non-European SaffronOMICS scientists involved from the initial steps of the proposal preparation throughout the project and (d) perspectives for the implementation of the scientific achievements through their dissemination to saffron scientific society and stakeholders.
Tsimidou, M.Z. (2017). SaffronOMICS: the international dimension and impact of the scientific achievements of a European COST ACTION project. Acta Hortic. 1184, 1-10
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1184.1
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1184.1
saffron, authenticity, adulteration, quality, omic technologies
English

Acta Horticulturae