Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters in Virgin Olive Oils: In-House Validation of a Revised Method

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first_page settings Open AccessArticle Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters in Virgin Olive Oils: In-House Validation of a Revised Method by Rosa Palagano 1, Enrico Valli 1 [OrcID] , Matilde Tura 1, Chiara Cevoli 1, María del Carmen Pérez-Camino 2, Wenceslao Moreda 2, Alessandra Bendini 1,* [OrcID] and Tullia Gallina Toschi 1 [OrcID] 1 Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy 2 Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC), 41013 Sevilla, Spain * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Foods 2020, 9(7), 924; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9070924 Received: 12 June 2020 / Revised: 6 July 2020 / Accepted: 11 July 2020 / Published: 14 July 2020 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Analytical Methods to Evaluate Quality and Authenticity of Edible Oils and Fats) Download PDF Browse Figures Abstract The content of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) is one of the quality parameters to define if an olive oil can be classified as extra virgin as these compounds are considered markers for virgin olive oils obtained from poor-quality olives. In addition, FAEEs can also be indirect markers to detect soft deodorization treatment. In this study, an off-line HPLC-GC-FID method for determination of FAEEs is presented, revising the preparative step and the GC injector required by the official method (EU Reg. 61/2011). After optimization, the method was validated in-house by analyzing several parameters (linearity, limit of detection LOD, limit of quantification LOQ, robustness, recovery, precision, and accuracy) to determine its effectiveness. Linearity was measured in the 2.5–50 mg/L range; furthermore, intra-day and inter-day precision values were lower than 15%, while the LOD and LOQ were lower than 1 and 1.5 mg/kg, respectively, for all compounds considered. The main advantages of this revised protocol are: (i) significant reduction in time and solvents needed for each analytical determination; (ii) application of HPLC as an alternative to traditional LC, carried with manually packed glass columns, thus simplifying the separation step.
This work was supported by the Horizon 2020 European Research project OLEUM “Advanced solutions for assuring the authenticity and quality of olive oil at a global scale,” which received funding from the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 Programme (2014–2020), grant agreement no. 635690. The information expressed in this article reflects the authors’ views; the European Commission is not liable for the information contained herein.