Preliminary Discrimination of Commercial Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Brazil by Geographical Origin and Olive Cultivar: A Call for Broader Investigations

Abstract

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) production in Brazil has been recently established and is growing, but only a few studies have been published on the topic, particularly involving commercial EVOO samples. A preliminary discrimination of Brazilian EVOOs according to olive cultivar and region of production was conducted. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were performed based on the results of recent published work by our research group on the evaluation of the quality parameters, the metabolic profile, and other typical features of commercial EVOOs from Brazil. One of the oleuropein aglycone isomers, linoleic acid, α-tocopherol, and free sterols were found to be the most discriminating variables within the models. PLS-DA also revealed the region of production as a significant factor in samples’ clustering. The present work provides a preview of Brazilian EVOOs typicity and discloses the urge for further investigations with a higher number of commercial samples, from different olive cultivars and production regions. The comprehensive definition of the identity of their chemical profiles could provide Brazilian oils with a significant added value, and possibly show distinctive features that could motivate the future establishment of protected designation of origin.