Identification of Crude Palm Oils by the Analyses of Fatty Acids, Volatile Organic Compounds, and Carotenoids

Abstract

An in-depth analysis of crude palm oil is important to differentiate crude palm oil (CPO) from different geographic provenance for administrative control purposes to prevent and solve the problem of smuggling CPO from abroad to Thailand. In this study, eleven CPO samples from five provinces in Thailand were studied for their composition. The compositions of fatty acids, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carotenoids were characterized by GC-FID, GC-MS, and HPLC-DAD techniques, respectively. The chromatograms of fatty acids distribution were similar for all samples. The main components of fatty acids are palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and stearic acid. In the study of volatile organic compounds, it was found that volatile organic compounds chromatograms of different CPO were similar. Moreover, the chromatograms of the carotenoids were similar in all CPO samples. The alpha to beta-carotenes ratios were in the range of 0.70 to 0.91 with ±0.02 of the tolerance. This ratio can be considered as a characteristic of a CPO. However, the ratios of CPOs from some sources were similar. Hence, more CPO samples with specified species, locations, and seasons must be further investigated to develop the identification of CPO.