Classification of Turkish olive oils with respect to cultivar, geographic origin and harvest year, using fatty acid profile and mid-IR spectroscopy

Fatty acid composition and mid-infrared spectra of olive oils in combination with chemometric techniques were used in the classification of Turkish olive oils with respect to their varieties, growing location and harvest year. In particular, olive oil samples belonging to five different cultivars were obtained from the same orchard in the middle part of Aegean region and two of these varieties were also received from another orchard in northern part of the same region of Turkey in two consecutive harvest years. Evaluation of nine different fatty acid compositions with principal component analysis revealed clear differentiation with respect to variety, geographical origin and harvest year. On the other hand, mid-infrared spectra also achieved varietal and seasonal discrimination to some extent, but differentiation is not as clear as that obtained using fatty acid compositions. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.EU Marie Curie Reintegration Grant (MIRG-CT-2005-029134