Nonradiative analysis of adulteration in coconut oil by thermal lens technique

Adulteration of food is a serious issue that impacts personal and social health. Using highly sensitive and nondestructive single-beam thermal lens technique, the present work analyses the adulteration of edible coconut oil with hazardous paraffin oil. The present study overcomes the limitations with conventional spectroscopic technique, as it employs the photothermal technique for the trace detection of adulterants and nonradiative energy release. Samples prepared with trace amount of paraffin oil in coconut oil were subjected to ultraviolet (UV)–visible spectroscopic characterization. The study reveals that the optical absorption and thermal diffusivity decrease with the increase of the adulterant.