Discrimination of geographical origin of camellia seed oils using electronic nose characteristics and chemometrics

Nowadays, the geographical origin of camellia oil (extra virgin) can be confirmed only by chemical analysis and documental traceability. This preliminary methodological study inquires the efficacy of chemometric analysis and gas chromatography coupled to an electronic nose to provide a rapid tool for the discrimination of camellia oil from different geographical origins. This method is appropriate for serving to support or corroborate geographical origin of camellia oil (extra virgin) based on its fingerprint of volatile profile, which is developed by using discriminant analysis and multivariate ordination technique (partial least squares discriminant analysis and principal components analysis). The results demonstrate that chemometrics combined with the electronic nose technique can be applied for fingerprinting to establish the authenticity of camellia oil (extra virgin) to prevent both quality and prestige loss of this product.