Instrument-based detection methods for adulteration in spice and spice products – A review <s> Introduction <s> The objective of this study is to explore the current strategies available to monitor and detect the economically and criminally motivated adulteration of food, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and recommend new approaches and policies to strengthen future capabilities to counter adulteration in a globalized food environment. There are many techniques used to detect the presence of adulterants, however this approach relies on the adulterant or means of substitution being “known” and no food item can ever be declared truly free of adulteration on that basis. Further techniques will verify the provenance claims made about a food product e.g. breed, variety etc. as well as techniques to identify original geographic location of food production. These consider wholeness, or not, of a food item and do not need to necessarily identify the actual adulterant. The conceptual framework developed in this research focuses on the process of predicting, detecting and reacting to economically and criminally motivated food adulteration. <s> BIB001 </s> Instrument-based detection methods for adulteration in spice and spice products – A review <s> Introduction <s> Spices spice the food of humans and play an important role in making our food palatable. Many spices are important in flavouring and seasoning of foods and form major ingredients in beverages and pharmaceuticals. <s> BIB002
India being the spice bowl of the world produces over 7 million tonnes of different spices every year. Among the 109 types of spices enlisted by International Organization for Standardization, India produces more than 65 varieties. In India, about 3.15 million hectares of land is under spice cultivation. During 2015-2016, the country exported spice worth 2482.83 million US$ by exporting 0.84 million tonnes of spices and such huge figures indicate the massiveness of Indian spice products in the global export market (Spices Board 2017). Spices are mainly valued for their characteristic flavor, aroma and color  . Since ancient times, spices have been products of high economic value and possess broad range of applications in various fields; including, culinary, 107 medicinal and cosmetic usage BIB002 . They are classified as: major spices, tree spices, seed spices and other spices (Bharath et al. 2017) . Post-harvest losses in spices is heavy (Alice et al. 2016 ) and the risk of contamination and adulteration in spices is a growing concern. Very often they cause severe health hazards in humans apart from obvious loss in product quality. Adulteration is the intentional or unintentional inclusion of substances that are not legally approved in foods, leading to an imitation of the product and ultimate reduction in market value BIB001 . Intentional or economic adulteration is done to mimic enhanced visual and organoleptic quality by the addition of foreign materials. Foreign matter such as floral wastes, fraudulent components including artificial colorants, spent extracts and plant parts of foreign species are the commonly detected adulterants. Selected examples are presented in Table 1 . Indirect or unintentional adulteration involves inclusion of substances in food due to ignorance or the lack of knowledge. This can occur due to inappropriate processing and handling operations. For example, harvesting in the wrong period, improper drying, poor storage conditions and gross substitution with plant materials like presence of stalk with pepper berries are practical concerns (Silvis et al. 2017) . In order to ensure food safety and food quality, various methods are used to detect and quantify adulteration in spices. In general, basic testing methods are used for qualitative detection, whereas instrumental techniques are used for quantitative detection of adulteration in spices. Several instrumental techniques (often used in conjunction with chemometric techniques) have been used and with advancements in analytical chemistry, most modern methods are known for their sensitivity, accuracy, selectivity and rapidity. Recently, molecular techniques are also being explored for detection of adulterants in spice and spice products (Table 2) .