Rapid methodology via mass spectrometry to quantify addition of soybean oil in extra virgin olive oil: A comparison with traditional methods adopted by food industry to identify fraud

Fast and innovative methodology to monitors the addition of soybean oil in extra virgin olive oil was developed employing ESI-MS with ionization operating in positive mode. A certified extra virgin olive oil and refined soybean oil samples were analyzed by direct infusion, the identification of a natural lipid marker present only in soybean oil (m/z 886.68 [TAG+NH4]+) was possible. The certified extra virgin olive oil was purposely adulterated with soybean oil in different levels (1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 90%) being possible to observe that the new methodology is able to detect even small fraud concentration, such as 1% (v/v). Additionally, commercial samples were analyzed and were observed the addition of soybean oil as a common fraud in this segment. This powerful analytical method proposed could be applied as routine analysis by control organization, as well as food industries, considering its pronounced advantages; simplicity, rapidity, elevated detectability and minor amounts of sample and solvent consumed. [Display omitted] •Extra virgin olive oil fraud detection 4500× faster than conventional techniques•Innovative technique quantifying small (1%) adulteration in extra virgin olive oil•Lipid markers only for soybean oil in comparison to extra virgin olive oil•Direct infusion by ESI-MS with little sample preparation