New insights into the Argan oil categories characterization: Chemical descriptors, FTIR fingerprints, and chemometric approaches

The characterization of Argan oils to classify them in three categories (‘Extra Virgin’, ‘Virgin’ and ‘Lower quality’) was evaluated. A total of 120 Moroccan Argan oils samples from the Taroudant Argan forest was investigated. The free acidity, peroxide value, spectrophotometric indices (K232 and K270), fatty acids, sterols, and tocopherol contents were assessed. The samples were also scanned by FTIR spectroscopy. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and four classification methods, Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA), K-nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Support Vector Machines (SVM), were applied on both the chemical and spectral data. Besides the conventional chemical profiling, FTIR spectra were evaluated for their feasibility as a rapid non-invasive approach for classifying and predicting the oil quality categories. The most important variables for differentiating the oil categories were identified as K232, peroxide value, ɣ-tocopherol, δ-tocopherol, acidity, stigma-8-22-dien-3β-ol, stearic acid (C18:0) and linoleic acid (C18:2) and could be used as quality indicators. Eight chemical descriptors or key features from the FTIR spectra (selected by interval-PLS) could also be established as indicators of quality and freshness of Argan oils. [Display omitted] •Chemical characterization and quality evaluation of Argan oil categories.•Both chemical profiling and FTIR fingerprints investigated for categorical classification.•Important chemical descriptors and FTIR sub-intervals highlighted for categorical description.•Argan oils were classified as Extra virgin, Virgin or Lower quality.•Chemometric tools allowed classification and discrimination between Argan oil categories.