Evaluation of the quality of olive oil using fatty acid profiles by direct infusion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is used to predict the olive oil quality according to European Union marketing standards. Samples were 1:50 diluted in an alkaline 85:15 (v/v) propanol/methanol mixture and directly infused into the electrospray ionization source of an ion trap mass spectrometer. The establishment of ratios of the peak abundances of the free fatty acids followed by linear discriminant analysis was employed to predict the olive oil quality grade. In addition, using multiple linear regression and partial least-squares regression, the percentages of extra virgin and virgin olive oils in binary mixtures were predicted with 5–11% average prediction errors.