An overview of recent advances and applications of FT-IR spectroscopy for quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils

Authenticity and adulteration detection are primary concerns of various stakeholders, such as researchers, consumers, manufacturers, traders, and regulatory agencies. Traditional approaches for authenticity and adulteration detection in edible oils are time-consuming, complicated, laborious, and expensive; they require technical skills when interpreting the data. Over the last several years, much effort has been spent in academia and industry on developing vibrational spectroscopic techniques for quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils. Among them, Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy has gained enormous attention as a green analytical technique for the rapid monitoring quality of edible oils at all stages of production and for detecting and quantifying adulteration and authenticity in edible oils. The technique has several benefits such as rapid, precise, inexpensive, and multi-analytical; hence, several parameters can be predicted simultaneously from the same spectrum. Associated with chemometrics, the technique has been successfully implemented for the rapid detection of adulteration and authenticity in edible oils. After presenting the fundamentals, the latest research outcomes in the last 10 years on quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils using FT-IR spectroscopy will be highlighted and described in this review. Additionally, opportunities, challenges, and future trends of FT-IR spectroscopy will also be discussed.