Using fluorescence excitation-emission matrices to predict bitterness and pungency of virgin olive oil: A feasibility study

•Prediction of virgin olive oil bitterness and pungency was achieved by measuring EEM.•Both PARAFAC scores and unfolded EEM led to successful predictions by PLS regression.•Errors in prediction were always close to the error of the sensory reference method.•The most relevant PARAFAC scores agreed with virgin olive oil phenolic spectra.