Rapid Quantitative Determination of Walnut Oil Adulteration with Sunflower Oil Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Adulteration of walnut oil with sunflower oil is a major issue for the walnut oil industry. In this paper, the potential use of total synchronous fluorescence (TSyF) spectra to differentiate walnut oil from sunflower oil and synchronous fluorescence spectra combined with multivariate analysis to assess the adulteration of walnut oil is demonstrated. TSyF spectra were acquired by varying the excitation wavelength in the region 250-700 nm and the wavelength interval (Delta lambda) in the region from 10 to 100 nm. TSyF contour plots for walnut oil, in contrast to sunflower oil, show an extra fluorescence region in the excitation wavelength lower than 280 nm. Fifty-one oil mixtures were prepared by adulterating walnut oil with sunflower oil at varying levels (0-100 %). The partial least-squares regression model was used for the quantification of adulteration using wavelength intervals of 20, 40, 60 and 80 nm. This technique is useful for the detection of sunflower oil in walnut oil at levels down to 0.3 % (v/v) in just 2.5 min using an 80-nm wavelength interval.