Study of the enantiomeric composition of chiral constituents in edible oils by simultaneous distillation-extraction. Detection of adulterated olive oils

A method is proposed for detecting adulterations of olive oil with hazelnut oil at percentages as low as 5%. The method is based on the identification of R‐ and S‐enantiomers of E‐5‐methylhept‐2‐en‐4‐one (filbertone) and involves the use of simultaneous distillation‐solvent extraction in the sample preparation step and subsequent gas chromatographic analysis with a chiral stationary phase. Relative standard deviation values obtained from three replicates of adulterated mixtures of olive oil and hazelnut oil (95:5) were less than 9% for both R‐and S‐filbertone.