Quality assessment and authentication of virgin olive oil by NMR spectroscopy: A critical review

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy has been extensively used for the analysis of olive oil and it has been established as a valuable tool for its quality assessment and authenticity. To date, a large number of research and review articles have been published with regards to the analysis of olive oil reflecting the potential of the NMR technique in these studies. In this critical review, we cover recent results in the field and discuss deficiencies and precautions of the three NMR techniques (¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P) used for the analysis of olive oil. The two methodological approaches of metabonomics, metabolic profiling and metabolic fingerprinting, and the statistical methods applied for the classification of olive oils will be discussed in critical way. Some useful information about sample preparation, the required instrumentation for an effective analysis, the experimental conditions and data processing for obtaining high quality spectra will be presented as well. Finally, a constructive criticism will be exercised on the present methodologies used for the quality control and authentication of olive oil.