Development of amperometric enzyme‐based biosensor to evaluate the adulteration in virgin coconut oil

Abstract

Virgin Coconut oil (VCO), owing to its functional properties (important in COVID-19), is costly and, therefore, susceptible to adulteration with other cheaper oils like coconut oil. An enzyme-based biosensor confirmative test of VCO was constructed by co-immobilizing enzymes onto a glassy carbon electrode. The performance of the biosensor was optimized at a potential of +0.5 V with 45 mg gelatin, 30 mg BSA coupled with 2.5% glutaraldehyde at pH 7.0 with an incubation time of 1 hr. Adulterated samples of VCO with coconut oil (CO) were analyzed. The concentration of diglyceride (DG) was estimated from the empirical relation, which showed a linear increase with the increase in adulteration. The developed biosensor was validated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods using a paired sample t test at a 5% significance level. The biosensor could detect adulteration in VCO with CO above 20% within 3–5 s and can be reused for 25 days. Practical applications Adulteration of edible oils is a massive issue in today's market. Virgin coconut oil due to its functional and antiviral properties becomes important for human health. This study revealed that the developed biosensor could be an effective method for adulteration detection in virgin coconut oil with coconut oil.