As of 7 July 2025 there is a grade of saffron above Category I. ISO 3632-1:2025 added a tier called "extra class," which requires colouring strength of at least 230, picrocrocin of at least 80 and safranal of at least 30. Category I — long sold as the highest grade — is now the second tier.
This is a real change to the international standard, and thirteen months on, most of the saffron sold in the United States is still labelled using the old ceiling. Some of it is labelled using a ceiling that was withdrawn about fifteen years ago. Here is what actually changed, and how to check whether a brand's grade claim means anything.
What is ISO 3632?
ISO 3632 is the international standard for saffron. It comes in two parts. Part 1 sets the specification — the grades and the numbers you must hit to claim them. Part 2 sets the test method: how a laboratory actually measures a sample.
The measurement is spectrophotometry. A ground sample is dissolved in water and light is passed through it, and the laboratory records how strongly the solution absorbs light at three wavelengths. Each wavelength corresponds to one of saffron's three defining compound groups:
- 440 nanometres — crocin, which carries colour
- 257 nanometres — picrocrocin, which carries the bitter, hay-like taste
- 330 nanometres — safranal, associated with aroma
The results are reported as E1%1cm values. That is not a percentage and not a weight — it is an absorbance reading normalised to a standard concentration and light path. A crocin figure of 260 means twice the colouring power per gram of a figure of 130.
What are the ISO 3632 saffron grades in 2026?
Four tiers, since July 2025. The thresholds below reflect the current standard and its Codex Alimentarius counterpart, CXS 351-2022, which was written in alignment with the ISO revision.
| Measure | Extra class | Category I | Category II | Category III |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crocin (colour), 440 nm | 230 minimum | 200 | 170 | 120 |
| Picrocrocin (taste), 257 nm | 80 minimum | 70 | 55 | 40 |
| Safranal (aroma), 330 nm | 30 minimum | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Extraneous matter, maximum | 0.25% | 0.5% | 3.0% | 5.0% |
| Moisture, maximum | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% |
Extra class is not simply a higher colour number. It also tightens extraneous matter — the petal fragments, stamens and broken style that pad out a tin — from 0.5% down to 0.25%. It is a cleanliness standard as much as a potency standard.
Why does the change matter to someone buying saffron?
Because it turns a lot of packaging into an outdated claim overnight, and because it gives you a sharper question to ask.
A brand advertising "ISO Category I — the highest grade" is describing something that stopped being the highest grade in July 2025. That is not necessarily dishonest; the standard is new and trade language moves slowly. But it does tell you the brand is not following the specification it is citing.
More seriously, a number of saffron sellers still quote thresholds of 190 for Category I. That figure comes from the 1993 edition of ISO 3632, withdrawn long ago. Under the standard in force today, 190 is Category II. If a brand tells you 195 makes its saffron Category I, the brand is working from a document that has not been valid for years.
How do you verify a grade claim?
Grade claims in saffron are almost entirely self-issued. There is no certifying body that awards "Category I" or "extra class" the way an organic certifier issues a seal. A laboratory measures a sample and reports numbers; the seller then decides what to print. So the claim is only as good as the document behind it.
Four things separate a real certificate from a decorative one:
- A named laboratory. Not "lab tested" — an actual accredited laboratory named on the report.
- A lot or batch number you can match to the tin in your hand. Saffron is an agricultural product; every harvest is different, so a certificate that does not identify which harvest it describes describes nothing in particular.
- A sampling date. Crocin degrades in storage. A certificate with no date could be describing a batch from three seasons ago.
- The three numbers printed where you can read them, not just a claim that testing happened.
If any of those four are missing, treat the grade as a marketing term rather than a measurement. That applies to us as much as anyone: our own lab report page states plainly where our testing currently stands, and it will publish the certificate and the batch it belongs to when the results arrive.
Is "Super Negin" the same as extra class?
No, and this is the most common confusion in the category. They are two entirely separate systems measuring different things.
Super Negin, Negin, Sargol and Pushal are trade terms. They describe the shape of what is in the tin — how long the threads are, whether the yellow style has been removed, how uniform the cut is. They are appearance grades, applied by the packer. None of them appears anywhere in ISO 3632 or in Codex, in any edition. There is no threshold to meet and no body that audits them.
Extra class and Category I are ISO chemical grades. They describe what the saffron measures in a laboratory.
The two are independent. A saffron can be beautifully cut Super Negin and test Category II. A shorter, less photogenic thread can test extra class. Appearance and potency correlate loosely at best. If you want to understand the trade terms properly, we cover them in detail in what Super Negin actually means.
What should you actually ask a saffron seller?
One question does most of the work:
"Can I see the certificate for the batch I'm buying, with the laboratory name and the date?"
The answer sorts the market quickly. Very few sellers in the United States can produce one. Most publish numbers with no document behind them; a larger group publishes no numbers at all, including several of the most expensive brands on the shelf. Price and provable quality are not connected in this category, which is precisely why the question is worth asking.
Where Authentic Afghan Saffron stands
We sell Herat-grown saffron, hand-sorted, all-red thread. We have not yet published an ISO 3632 certificate, and until we do we are not going to claim a grade. Testing is underway, and when the results come back we will publish the full report — laboratory name, batch number, sampling date and all three numbers — whatever it says.
That is a slower way to make a claim than typing one. It is the only version of the claim that is worth anything.
Further reading: what saffron should cost per gram, how to spot fake saffron, and how our saffron is grown and sorted.
