Virgin olive oil processing by high voltage electrical discharge or high hydrostatic pressure

Abstract

We test the application of two emerging technologies to virgin olive oil (VOO) processing. high voltage electrical discharge (HVED) was tested at 20 kV and about 100 kJ/kg of VOO. High-pressure processing (HPP) was applied for 360 s at about 600 MPa. VOO quality indices were evaluated immediately after treatment and after 6 months. The HPP treatment was found to have no negative influence on any aspect (p > .05 according to General Linear Model and the Tukey HSD test). The HVED treatment did not affect conventional quality indices (p > .05), but was consistent with the appearance of secondary oxidation products (anisidine value increment of about 50% and rDigs increment of roughly 200%, both at p ≤ .05), a significant fall in biophenol concentrations roughly from 5 to 10% at p ≤ .05; and a decrease of about 15% at p ≤ .05 in positive volatiles. Overall, HVED processing appears to negatively impact VOO quality. Novelty impact statement For the first time, high voltage electrical discharge (HVED) has been tested on virgin olive oil (VOO) in comparison to high-pressure processing (HPP) over a storage period While HPP was entirely safe for VOO quality, HVED determines a potential detrimental effect Our findings support the application of these technologies to food containing VOO, or for its direct treatment, for instance, to protect against microbial spoilage.