Confirmation of Food Origin Claims by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemometrics: Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Liguria

The aim of this study was to explore the potential of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and various chemometric tools for confirming the geographic origin of olive oil from Liguria (northern Italy). Authentic extra virgin olive oil samples (n = 913) from three harvests (2004-2007) were collected from Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey-approximately one-fourth of all samples originated in Liguria. Attenuated total reflectance spectra were recorded at room temperature; the analytical challenge was to confirm that an oil which claimed to be from Liguria originated there. Derivative and standard normal variate data pretreatments were applied to the recorded spectra, which were subsequently analyzed by a number of multivariate procedures-principal component analysis, factorial discriminant analysis, and partial least-squares regression analysis. Prediction models created using samples from all three harvests had sensitivities and selectivities of approximately 0.80.