Isotopic and Elemental Data for Tracing the Origin of European Olive Oils

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 570 - 577
• Main Authors: Camin, Federica, Larcher, Roberto, Nicolini, Giorgio, Bontempo, Luana, Bertoldi, Daniela, Perini, Matteo, Schlicht, Claus, Schellenberg, Antje, Thomas, Freddy, Heinrich, Katharina, Voerkelius, Susanne, Horacek, Micha, Ueckermann, Henriette, Froeschl, Heinz, Wimmer, Bernhard, Heiss, Gerhard, Baxter, Malcolm, Rossmann, Andreas, Hoogewerff, Jurian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 13.01.2010
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; carbon; Carbon Isotopes - analysis; country of origin labeling; deuterium; Deuterium - analysis; Elements; Europe; Fat industries; food analysis; Food Chemistry/Biochemistry; food composition; Food industries; food labeling; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Isotope Labeling; Olive Oil; oxygen; Oxygen Isotopes - analysis; Plant Oils - chemistry; product authenticity; provenance; Quality Control; stable isotopes; traceability; Europe; Olive oil; ICP-MS; traceability; IRMS; European origin; Origin; Traceability; Quality assurance; Vegetable oil; Edible oil; Inductive coupling plasma spectrometry
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf902814s

H, C, and O stable isotope ratios and the elemental profile of 267 olive oils and 314 surface waters collected from 8 European sites are presented and discussed. The aim of the study was to investigate if olive oils produced in areas with different climatic and geological characteristics could be discriminated on the basis of isotopic and elemental data. The stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O of olive oils and the ratios of H and O of the relevant surface waters correlated to the climatic (mainly temperature) and geographical (mainly latitude and distance from the coast) characteristics of the provenance sites. It was possible to characterize the geological origin of the olive oils by using the content of 14 elements (Mg, K, Ca, V, Mn, Zn, Rb, Sr, Cs, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, U). By combining the 3 isotopic ratios with the 14 elements and applying a multivariate discriminant analysis, a good discrimination between olive oils from 8 European sites was achieved, with 95% of the samples correctly classified into the production site.