Comparing Different Chemometric Approaches to Detect Adulteration of Cold-Pressed Flaxseed Oil with Refined Rapeseed Oil Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Flaxseed oil is one of the best sources of n-3 fatty acids, thus its adulteration with refined oils can lead to a reduction in its nutritional value and overall quality. The purpose of this study was to compare different chemometric models to detect adulteration of flaxseed oil with refined rapeseed oil (RP) using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Based on the melting phase transition curve, parameters such as peak temperature (T), peak height (h), and percentage of area (P) were determined for pure and adulterated flaxseed oils with an RP concentration of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50% (w/w). Significant linear correlations (p ≤ 0.05) between the RP concentration and all DSC parameters were observed, except for parameter h1 for the first peak. In order to assess the usefulness of the DSC technique for detecting adulterations, three chemometric approaches were compared: (1) classification models (linear discriminant analysis—LDA, adaptive regression splines—MARS, support vector machine—SVM, and artificial neural networks—ANNs); (2) regression models (multiple linear regression—MLR, MARS, SVM, ANNs, and PLS); and (3) a combined model of orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). With the LDA model, the highest accuracy of 99.5% in classifying the samples, followed by ANN > SVM > MARS, was achieved. Among the regression models, the ANN model showed the highest correlation between observed and predicted values (R = 0.996), while other models showed goodness of fit as following MARS > SVM > MLR. Comparing OPLS-DA and PLS methods, higher values of R(2)X(cum) = 0.986 and Q(2) = 0.973 were observed with the PLS model than OPLS-DA. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the DSC technique and importance of an appropriate chemometric model for predicting the adulteration of cold-pressed flaxseed oil with refined rapeseed oil.