ITER and ULL have launched the project called ALOECAN in order to certify the authenticity and geographical origin of aloe and thus protect producers and consumers from potential fraud.
The Institute of Technology and of Renewable Energies, (ITER), dependent on the Cabildo de Tenerife, leads the ALOECAN project, where, together with the University of La Laguna (ULL), the project will for the first time apply the traceability of inorganic and organic fingerprints of Canarian aloe plants and products as a novel geochemical tool to contribute to the fight against fraud.
The ALOECAN project is part of the research line on agri-food traceability, which has been developed by the ITER Environment Area for the last 5 years and aims to certify the authenticity and geographical origin of aloe and thus protect producers and consumers from potential fraud.
Specifically, the use of natural isotopes of strontium and specific organic compounds, existing in aloe plants, as potential “fingerprints” of aloe grown in the Canary Islands and its by-products will be evaluated. Likewise, the project will entail the implementation, for the first time, of a methodology for the certification of the origin of aloe vera, beyond the proposed technique. This tool will be a key piece for the establishment of a designation of origin of Canarian Aloe Vera, which will make specific and significant contributions to all links in the Aloe value chain.
The growing demand for high quality and safe agri-food products in Europe has promoted the development of rigid control laws to certify their authenticity and geographical origin in order to protect producers and consumers from potential fraud. Among these products is Aloe, of which more than 200 potentially active compounds in its solid fraction have been reported, among which are vitamins, minerals, anthraquinones, polysaccharides, etc.
The Canary Islands grows very high quality Aloe. This high quality is a consequence of a privileged climate and a volcanic soil very rich in minerals that make the Canary Islands one of the best places to grow this plant. However, the fraud of Aloe and its by-products sold as grown in the Canary Islands currently reaches 21 million euros, according to data from the Government of the Canary Islands. For these reasons, the geographical traceability of Aloe is of vital importance for modern Canarian society, generating the need to establish valid scientific protocols capable of tracing the geographical origin of Aloe grown in the Canary Islands and its by-products.
The ALOECAN project (CPP2021-009056) will last 36 months and is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency (10.13039/501100011033) and by the European Union within the framework of the EU Next Generation EU Recovery Plan and the Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).