A metabolomics approach using LC TOF-MS to evaluate oxidation levels of edible oils

Accurate and reliable techniques to analyze oxidation levels of lipids are essential for the refining process and quality control in the edible oil industry. In the present study, we demonstrate a metabolomics approach for the determination of lipid oxidation levels, by photo-oxidation, using liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC TOF-MS) and multivariate analysis. Edible oils with different oxidation levels were used to prove the effectiveness of the developed technique. Critical markers, such as oxidized triacylglycerols, responsible for such variations, were detected through the corresponding loading weights, and the tentative identification of the compounds was supported by the accurate mass identification using the TOF-MS. The results revealed that the LC TOF-MS, coupled with a partial least squares model, can be successfully used to estimate the peroxide value of edible oils for effective quality control.