Fatty acids and fatty alcohol esters as novel markers of authenticity and extraction method of commercial avocado oil

Abstract

The lack of regulations on avocado oil authenticity enabled producers to blend it with cheaper oils without declaring it on the label. This study explored fatty acids (FA) and fatty alcohol esters (FAE) as innovative markers of avocado oil purity and extraction method. Only 40 % of the samples met the FA standards. Regarding FAE, extra virgin samples showed a maximum concentration of 2674.12 ± 570.98 mg total FAE·kg−1 oil, significantly higher than the 640.98 ± 220.06 mg total FAE·kg−1 oil observed in refined samples, making FAE novel markers of extraction method. Furthermore, a canonical discriminant analysis using Wilk's statistic (Λ = 0.008, F126, 1028.2 = 8.87, p < 0.0001), based on fault concentrations (high, medium, low) of the allegedly pure samples, revealed that the high- and medium-fault clusters aligned closely with declared blends containing canola or safflower oils. FA and FAE are promising molecules to detect adulteration in avocado oil.

Keywords

• Avocado oil identity
• Food adulteration
• Food quality
• Food fraud