Implementation of Physicochemical and Sensory Analysis in Conjunction with Multivariate analysis towards Assessing Olive Oil Authentication/Adulteration

Abstract

The authenticity of products labeled as olive oils, and in particular as virgin olive oils, stands for a very important issue both in terms of its health and commercial aspects. In view of the continuously increasing interest in virgin olive oil therapeutic properties, the traditional methods of characterization and physical and sensory analysis were further enriched with more advanced and sophisticated methods such as HPLC-MS, HPLC-GC/C/IRMS, RPLC-GC, DEPT, and CSIA among others. The results of both traditional and "novel" methods were treated both by means of classical multivariate analysis (cluster, principal component, correspondence, canonical, and discriminant) and artificial intelligence methods showing that nowadays the adulteration of virgin olive oil with seed oil is detectable at very low percentages, sometimes even at less than 1%. Furthermore, the detection of geographical origin of olive oil is equally feasible and much more accurate in countries like Italy and Spain where databases of physical/chemical properties exist. However, this geographical origin classification can also be accomplished in the absence of such databases provided that an adequate number of oil samples are used and the parameters studied have "discriminating power."

Comparison of the Chemical Composition and the Organoleptic Profile of Virgin Olive Oil from Two Wild and Two Cultivated Tunisian Olea europaea

“…Olive oil is also a source of phenolic compounds. Hydrophilic phenols, the most abundant natural antioxidants of VOOs, together with tocopherols and carotenes [47], are one of the most important classes of compounds, since they react with free radicals, thus reducing considerably the risk of cancer and heart attack occurrence. The phenolic compounds are very important markers for the olive oil authentication.…”

Advanced detection methods for traceability of origin and authenticity of olive oils

“…4 However, these chemical substances may differ by season and original area, depending on the environmental conditions. In these cases, an alternative as a promising chemical marker is DNA, due to its unique independence of environmental liability.…”

“…However, olive oil adulteration is quite a complex issue that has been studied by various academic/industrial circles and governmental authorities across the world. [3][4][5] For one, olive oil could be illegally adulterated with other less expensive vegetable oils, thus causing either a reduced health benet or a potential hazard that threatens human life. [6][7][8] For another, many processes (such as washing, pressing, decantation, centrifugation and ltration, etc.)…”

“…There have been a few critical reviews on the adulteration of olive oil based on sensing strategies, 4,6 including DNA-based markers, 9 and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 10 etc. This review attempts to focus on the advanced sensor methods towards the adulteration of olive oil according to different physical or chemical properties, including, but not limited to, the fatty acid content and adulteration of other low-grade oils.…”

Traceability of Origin and Authenticity of Olive Oil

“…There are several parameters, major and minor compositional markers, with varied discriminant power used for olive oil traceability according to the variety of olive participated in the production of the oil (Arvanitoyannis et al, 2007).…”