Geographical traceability of West Liguria extravirgin olive oils by the analysis of volatile terpenoid hydrocarbons

This study aimed at evaluating if the volatile terpenoid hydrocarbons of extravirgin olive oils from West Liguria, a North Italy region, could trace their geographical origin. If terpenoid hydrocarbons were individually considered, three compounds, i.e. alpha-copaene, alpha-muurolene and alpha-farnesene, allowed building a simple decision tree and discriminating oils produced in West Liguria from oils produced in other Mediterranean regions. Moreover, the multivariate analysis allowed building West Liguria class-models with high predictive ability, confirming the fundamental role of the volatile terpenoid hydrocarbons for the geographical characterisation of West Liguria oils.