Quality and origin assessment of extra virgin olive oil for consumer protection by chromatographic techniques

Olive oil is obtained from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) and is a genuine fruit juice with excellent nutritional, sensory, and functional qualities. Consumer interest in olive oil as a healthy food source has increased due to its polyunsaturated fatty acid composition and content of other functional food components. Extra virgin olive oil is virgin olive oil that has a free acidity, expressed as oleic acid, of not more than 0.8 g/100 g, and the other characteristics of which correspond to those specified for this category. This type of oil is of limited production and viewed as high quality; as a result, extra virgin olive oil is one of the more expensive vegetable oils. An additional quality factor associated with such oils in the mind of the consumer is the geographical area of production, or provenance; oils from certain regions are viewed as superior in quality to others. In order to answer clearly to this transparency demand, the European Union (EU) with the regul

Olive oil is obtained from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) and is a genuine fruit juice with excellent nutritional, sensory, and functional qualities. Consumer interest in olive oil as a healthy food source has increased due to its polyunsaturated fatty acid composition and content of other functional food components. Extra virgin olive oil is virgin olive oil that has a free acidity, expressed as oleic acid, of not more than 0.8 g/100 g, and the other characteristics of which correspond to those specified for this category. This type of oil is of limited production and viewed as high quality; as a result, extra virgin olive oil is one of the more expensive vegetable oils. An additional quality factor associated with such oils in the mind of the consumer is the geographical area of production, or provenance; oils from certain regions are viewed as superior in quality to others. In order to answer clearly to this transparency demand, the European Union (EU) with the regulation 182/2009/CE has established the compulsory labeling of the geographical origin for extra virgin and virgin oil. These facts coupled with the quality aspects associated with extra virgin olive oils in general mean that such oils may be particularly susceptible to several economic frauds, such as the addition of seed oils, or, specifically with regard to provenance, false claims of origin on product labels. The consumer and food industry in general need protection from such fraudulent labeling. Aiming to find traceability markers several studies have been performed allowing the discrimination of compositional markers by chromatographic techniques. This paper will review the most recent results in this field.