Authenticity testing of edible oils and fats

Development of a database with purity and quality parameters for sample matching

Vegetable edible oils, especially olive oil, are among the most frequently adulterated food products worldwide. A common fraudulent practice is the admixture of lower-quality edible oils. Special terms such as "cold-pressed," "virgin," or "extra virgin" are often used to highlight production methods, even if the required quality or production requirements are not actually met. A knowingly false declaration of the geographical origin also may make products appear more valuable than they actually are.

These methods of adulteration aim to maximize profits while deceiving consumers about the actual quality and origin of edible oils. The consumption of around 1.3 million tons of vegetable edible oils in Germany in 2022 shows how relevant the topic is.
At the same time, selling prices have essentially increased due to substantial reduced harvest quantities, especially for olive oil. To enable better authenticity control of vegetable edible oils and fats in the future, the NRZ-Authent is developing an oils and fats specific database together with the Institute of Safety and Quality of Cereals at MRI and other project partners.

Chemical composition matching against a database

With the implementation of the database, the MRI will offer the possibility to detect adulterations in vegetable edible oils by identifying deviations in the chemical composition. To this end, a database with parameters for the purity and quality of authentic vegetable edible oils and fats will be setup. Later, a comparison of samples should be possible, for example, in terms of fatty acids, tocopherols, and phytosterols.

The data will be provided by the official food control laboratories of the federal states, participating MRI entities (Institute of Safety and Quality of Cereals, NRZ-Authent), and possibly other federal authorities. In addition to defined measurement data, the data sets also contain metadata for vegetable edible oils and fats (for example, the harvest date).

The data sets are stored in a joint database as part of the project. A web-based database application is programmed for data exchange and data comparison. After a comprehensive test phase, users should be able to compare unknown edible oil samples from routine controls in terms of plant species, origin, and quality parameters with the reference data stored in the database.