Fatty acid alkyl ester and wax compositions of olive oils as varietal authentication indicators

Minor components of olive oils can be good markers for their authenticity, which is a significant quality issue for this product. It was aimed to determine individual and total fatty acid alkyl esters and waxes as minor constituents of olive oil and to investigate their novel varietal authentication capability separately and in combination for three main olive cultivars grown in three distinct locations of Aegean Region of Turkey. In addition, basic quality and purity parameters as free fatty acid, K values and fatty acid profiles were also determined for the characterization of the samples. Olive oil samples from different cultivars had different fatty acid profiles and two of these varieties had similar quality parameters. Statistical analyses were conducted with orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to differentiate varieties with respect to their individual and combined parameters of fatty acid alkyl esters and waxes. For calibration sets, use of individual fatty acid alkyl esters profile resulted in 80% correct classification rate while waxes alone was 67% successful in classifying the olive oils according to variety. It was found that alkyl esters in combination with waxes were more effective in discrimination of olive oils with respect to cultivar compared to their individual forms and the correct classification rate for the generated model is 92% for calibration set. Since fatty acid alkyl esters along with waxes have effect on cultivar differentiation, they could have a potential as authentication tools for olive oil besides their known quality characteristics.