Combating Olive Oil Fraud Using GC–IMS and FGC-Enose

The adulteration of high-quality foods is big business. Typical adulteration of olive oil involves the use of other types of oil, such as seed oils or pomace oils, the introduction of re-esterified oils, or the creation of mixtures with refined oils to create a lower quality product that can still be sold at a premium price. Fortunately, these processes can be easily detected using standard methods. However, fraudsters now seek more advanced methods using soft refined oils or oils with a tailored composition, making detection with existing procedures difficult. LCGC spoke to Michele Suman about novel screening and confirmatory analytical strategies he has investigated to regain the upper hand in the fight against olive oil adulteration.