Geographical origin traceability analysis of camellia oil based on headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry and chemometrics

Camellia oil is highly valued for its nutritional benefits, but its premium market position has led to frequent mislabeling of geographical origin. To assess the feasibility of tracing camellia oil origin using GC-IMS combined with chemometrics, 66 samples from 11 representative production areas across 7 provinces in China were collected and analyzed. Clustering and discriminant analyses were conducted at both the province and city levels. PCA revealed clear clustering by province, with even greater differentiation when the origin was specified at the city level. The PLS-DA model based on VOC profiles achieved recognition accuracies of 96.7% (province level) and 100% (city level), while the successive projections algorithm (SPA)-PLS-DA model achieved 100% and 98.5%, respectively. The findings demonstrate that GC-IMS combined with chemometrics is a feasible and effective method for camellia oil origin traceability, providing technical support for the certification of geographical indications and food safety supervision.