title: Rapid screening of fatty acid alkyl esters in olive oils by time domain reflectometry.
abstract: The main aim of the present research is to assess the possibility of quickly screening fatty acid alkyl esters (FAAE) in olive oils using time domain reflectometry (TDR) and partial least-squares (PLS) multivariate statistical analysis. Eighteen virgin olive oil samples with fatty acid alkyl ester contents and fatty acid ethyl ester/methyl ester ratios (FAEE/FAME) ranging from 3 to 100 mg kg(-1) and from 0.3 to 2.6, respectively, were submitted to tests with time domain resolution of 1 ps. The results obtained in test set validation demonstrated that this new and fast analytical approach is able to predict FAME, FAEE, and FAME + FAEE contents with R(2) values of 0.905, 0.923, and 0.927, respectively. Further measurements on mixtures between olive oil and FAAE standards confirmed that the prediction is based on a direct influence of fatty acid alkyl esters on the TDR signal. The suggested technique appeared potentially suitable for monitoring one of the most important quality attribute of the olive oil in the extraction process.
authors.affiliation: Inter-Departmental Centre for Agri-Food Industrial Research and ‡Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna , Cesena (FC), Italy.
authors.forename: Annachiara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berardinelli
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ragni
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bendini
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Valli
authors.forename: Lanfranco
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guarnieri
authors.forename: Tullia Gallina
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Toschi
mesh_terms: D004952:Esters / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000069463:Olive Oil; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004952:Esters; D000069463:Olive Oil; D010938:Plant Oils