High-performance-ion mobility spectrometry (HPIMS) has been employed for the first time in the analysis of
olive oil samples after a simple liquid-liquid extraction procedure. The HPIMS-based methodology herein
developed is user friendly, fast (30 s per analysis) and inexpensive. Moreover, solvent consumption is minimal,
thus complying with the principles of green chemistry. The potential of the proposed approach in combination
with multivariate analysis has been evaluated for classification of olive oil samples according to their organo
leptic quality: extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), virgin olive oil (VOO) and lampante olive oil (LOO). In this work,
115 olive oil samples among the three categories, previously tasted by two Panel Tests, were used as reliable
analytical standards to calibrate and validate the chemometric models. The average success rate of classifying
samples was 68.9% for validating the ternary model (EVOO, VOO, and LOO). However, the binary model to
differentiate between non-defective (EVOO) and defective (VOO and LOO) samples provided a mean classifi
cation success rate of 88.3%. In addition, EVOO samples were better classified, with a success rate of ~90%. The
proposed strategy could be used as a valuable tool to support Panel Tests in the industry, allowing for a rapid
discrimination between EVOO and non-EVOO samples.