Extra Virgin Oil’s quality parameters by sustainable methods

Abstract

Europe is the world's largest producer of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with 2,317,174 tons in 2014. Spain, Italy and Greece cover more than 90% of European EVOO production. Extra virgin olive oil is a high value product, obtained from the mechanical pressing of olives. Several studies correlate the health benefits due to its composition: high content of unsaturated fatty acids (more than 75%, especially monounsaturated oleic acid), presence of phytosterols and antioxidant compounds. The economic implication of this commodity makes it particularly susceptible to fraud. The COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2568/91 sets out several "characteristics of olive oil and oliveresidue oil and on the relevant methods of analysis" in order to guarantee the purity and quality of the oil. The legislation's annexes illustrate the analysis methods and the decision tree "for verifying whether an olive oil sample is consistent with the category declared" (i.e. free fatty acidity ≤ 0.8 % for extra virgin olive oil). These methods take into account the variety of each matrix and define the amount of sample and reagents that have to been used for the determination of the quality parameters. The aim of this work is to develop optimized methods (starting from the official ones) and make them sustainable by using a smaller amount of chemicals (e.g. reagents, solvents), reducing also the production of waste and the sample needed. Since the production and disposal of solvents has negative effect on the environment, the evaluation of sustainable methods is a very topical issue. The quality parameters chosen are free fatty acidity, peroxides number and anisidine number (from Regulation EEC No 2568/91 and ISO 6885: 2016). A comparison between the regulation’s method and the new ones was made. The new methods were validated and their results were not statistically different (p<0.05) from the standard ones. The miniaturized methods have greater sustainability, saving more than 45% of resources (fig. 1)