ABSTRACT
Coconut oil has properties that are beneficial to human health. It assists in reducing total cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TAG), phospholipids, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol in serum and tissues. So its production, and consequently consumption, have increased in recent years. However, it has been a target for intentional adulteration with lower priced oils and fats, such as soybean oil and palm kernel oil (PKO). Coconut oil (CO) and PKO have similar chemical and physical characteristics that make it difficult to verify adulteration of CO with PKO. This study demonstrates a simple, sensitive, and fast technique that uses direct infusion electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) in conjunction with principal component analysis (PCA), in order to detect CO adulterated with PKO. Among the seven commercial coconut oil samples analysed, three were adulterated with PKO. Therefore, the suggested direct infusion ESI-MS method can be used in routine analysis to guarantee the quality of coconut oil.
Graphical Abstract
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Fundação Araucaria for financial assistance and the company Mejer Agroflorestal for the donation of pure palm kernel oil.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplementary Material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.