Non-destructive detection of soybean oil addition in babassu oil by MIR spectroscopy and chemometrics

This study aimed to develop a method to detect adulteration in babassu oil, through the addition of soybean oil using mid-infrared spectroscopy associated with chemometric techniques. For this, five different brands of soybean oil were used for adulteration (5%-50%) of babassu oil. A variation in peak intensities was observed in three regions of the spectrum as the percentage of oil addition increased. Principal component analysis differentiated the samples validating the spectral observations. A partial least squares model allowed the correct classification for the class with high level of adulteration. FTIR-ATR spectroscopy associated with chemometrics showed good performance in the detection and quantification of babassu oil adulteration by the addition of other lipid matrices such as soybean oil. This technique showed to be a good substitute for expensive, time consuming and complex traditional analytical techniques.