Importance of some minor compounds in olive oil authenticity and quality

Abstract

BackgroundConsumption and production of olive oils have been increasing steadily worldwide mainly due to proven health benefits and sensorial characteristics of olive oil. At the same time, rising demand makes it harder to protect olive oil genuineness; therefore, inauthentic products have been always a serious problem in olive oil industry. Scope and approachSome minor compounds such as pigments (chlorophylls and carotenoids) including their derivatives pyropheophytins (PPPs), diacylglycerols (DAGs) and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) are all prominent compounds with their discriminatory and descriptive properties. Among several different approaches, use of these components to differentiate genuine and adulterated olive oils could be a promising choice since it is harder to mimic these compounds in fake mixtures. Recent studies focus on these compounds as authentication and quality tools for olive oil and potential of these compounds are aimed to be reviewed. Key findings and conclusionsResults from literature indicated that these parameters could be used in both authenticity and quality determination of olive oils with some limitations. Pigments were found to be more promising in geographical and/or varietal classification. All of the discussed components have successful applications in determination of olive oil quality with respect to storage history and oil grades. However, in detection of certain types of adulteration techniques such as soft deodorization, reviewed parameters did not work effectively alone. Regulations could be updated with these findings and use of combined parameters including discussed compounds could be further investigated for unsolved authentication problems.