Fingerprint of palm oil using a geometric method

Abstract: The geometric method is a new technology for authentication of the source of vegetable oils and animal fats. This method was awarded a Malaysian-granted patent (MY-161097-A) on April 2017. The geometric method can provide representative images for each oil or fat and it can be generated via plotting chain numbers of fatty acids against the present fatty acid composition of each type of animal fat or vegetable oil. In this study, fingerprints of palm oil can be reported for the first time using the geometric method based on data collection of fatty acid profiles for the past 45 years from different studies. A unique image was generated from this method, and this is mainly because palm oil has a balanced fatty acid composition in which the level of saturated fatty acids is almost equal to that of the unsaturated fatty acids. In addition, palm oil has a narrow compositional range, as indicated by several surveys carried out between 1977 and 1997. This study was carried out using a simple and rapid method to identify oils and fats sources and to gain new knowledge about fatty acids composition for oils and fats.