New Method for Rapid Authentication of Edible Oils and Screening of Gutter Oils

A new method has been developed to use matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) for direct analysis of edible oils. This method involves direct sample loading, automated data acquisition and simple data processing, and has been applied to establish a preliminary spectral database of common edible oils. As different types of edible oils have different MALDI-MS spectral patterns, a sample of edible oil can be authenticated within minutes by comparing its spectrum with the spectra of the labeled oil in the database, and gutter oils thus can be screened out.