Authentication of olive oil adulterated with vegetable oils using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Determination of the authenticity of extra virgin olive oils has become more important in recent years following some infamous adulteration and contamination scandals. The study focused on application of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to identify the adulteration of olive oils. Single-bounce attenuated total reflectance measurements were made on pure olive oil and olive oil samples adulterated with varying concentrations of sunflower oil (20-100mL vegetable oil/L of olive oil). Discriminant analysis using 12 principal components was able to classify the samples as pure and adulterated olive oils based on their spectra. A partial least squares model was developed and used to verify the concentrations of the adulterant. Furthermore, the discriminant analysis method was used to classify olive oil samples as distinct from other vegetable oils based on their infrared spectra. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.