Detection of olive oil adulteration with linoleic acid-rich oils by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.
Adulteration of olive oil with very low levels (1-2%) of linoleic acid-rich oils can be unequivocally detected by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on columns packed with C18 alkyl bonded-phase particles. Triglyceride fractionation according to their equivalent carbon numbers is effected in 22-25 min by eluting the column with a non-aqueous mobile phase (acetonitrile-absolute ethanol-isopropanol, 72:18:10), compatible with UV-detector systems.