Rapid evaluation of olive oil quality by NIR reflectance spectroscopy

NIR spectroscopy calibrations have been developed for a range of quality parameters in olive oil, including FFA, PV, polyphenol content, induction time, chlorophyll, and the major FA. A set of 216 olive oil samples from throughout the Australian olive-growing areas were used to provide a representative range of quality. The variation in the oils tested virtually covered the range of the chemical standard limits described by the International Olive Oil Council. A FOSS NIRSystems^® 6500 spectrophotometer with a liquid cell holder was used. Multiple correlation coefficients squared (R ²) for minor components stearic acid (0.86), and linolenic acid (0.85) were relatively low because the concentration range is very narrow compared with the reproducibility of the reference method. However, the major FA, oleic (0.99) and linoleic (1.00), FFA (0.97), and chlorophyll (0.98) provided high levels of accuracy. All of the parameters measured were sufficiently accurate for routine screening of olive oil.