Abstract
Sterols are important lipids related to the quality of the oil and broadly used for checking its genuineness. Recent analyses have identified that some Australian olive oils would not meet international standards for total content of sterols or for certain individual components. Several research works would indicate that there are some significant correlations between cultural and processing practices and sterols content and composition. In this work we analysed the horticultural and processing practices that may have an impact on the sterol content and profile of the most important Australian cultivars. The information generated with this project does not only aim to solve a legislation problem but also to maximise the nutritional and health value of the Australian olive oils. The evaluation was undertaken in three different cultivars and the horticultural and processing practices evaluated were: irrigation, fruit size, maturity, malaxing time, malaxing temperature and delays between harvest and process. The total content of sterols and their composition in olive oil is strongly influenced by genetic factors and year. Processing practices particularly affect triterpene dialcohols and stigmasterol while horticultural practices and fruit characteristics tend to affect more significantly other sterols such as β-sitosterol, sitostanol, Δ5-avenasterol and Δ7-avenasterol.
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