Molecular fingerprinting technology has evolved from bulky laboratory benchtop instrumentation to field deployable devices driven by advances in semiconductor and photonic technologies. Ongoing miniaturization of vibrational spectroscopy equipment has revolutionized the food industry by allowing on-site and real-time monitoring of food products and production processes to ensure quality and safety. By producing a characteristic chemical ‘fingerprint’ with unique signature profiles, miniaturized molecular spectroscopy techniques combined with chemometric analysis have positioned as viable “green” alternatives for field applications allowing phenotyping, quality assurance, authentication, and detection of adulteration. We will present targeted and non-targeted applications for monitoring quality traits and authenticating oils using vibrational spectroscopy signatures combined with chemometrics. Oils were characterized by their fatty acid profile, free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV), and total polar compounds (TPC). Pattern recognition and partial least squares regression analysis of spectra allowed to identified oil adulteration and excellent correlations (Rval≥0.9) with reference tests and standard errors of prediction that would allow for quality control applications.
