Authentication of Argentinean extra-virgin olive oils using three-way fluorescence and two-way near-infrared data fused with multi-block DD-SIMCA

A trending problem of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) adulteration is investigated using two analytical platforms, involving: (1) Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, resulting in a two-way data set, and (2) Fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrix (EEFM) spectroscopy, producing three-way data. The related instruments were employed to study genuine and adulterated samples. Each data set was first separately analyzed using the Data Driven-Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogies (DD-SIMCA) method, based on Principal Component Analysis (for the two-way NIR data) and PARallel FACtor analysis (for the three-way EEFM data). The data sets were then processed together using the multi-block fusion method, based on the concept of Cumulative Analytical Signal (CAS). A comparison of the data processing methods in terms of sensitivity, specificity and selectivity showed the following order of excellence: NIR < EEFM < NIR + EEFM. This finding confirms the effectiveness of multi-block data fusion, which cumulatively improves the model performance.