Chemistry of extra virgin olive oil: adulteration, oxidative stability, and antioxidants

Much analytical work has been published on the chemistry of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) as a basis for the detection and quantitative analyses of the type and amount of adulteration with cheaper vegetable oils and deodorized olive oils. The analysis and authentication of EVOO represent very challenging analytical chemical problems. A significant amount of literature on EVOO adulteration has depended on sophisticated statistical approaches that require analyses of large numbers of samples. More effort is needed to exploit reliable chemical and instrumental methods that may not require so much statistical interpretation. Large assortments of methods have been used to determine lipid oxidation and oxidative stability and to evaluate the activity of the complex mixtures of phenolic antioxidants found in EVOO. More reliable chemical methods are required in this field to obviate excessive dependence on rapid antiradical methods that provide no information on the protective properties of antioxidants. The extensive literature on olive oil sensory tests, using many descriptors varying in different countries, should be supplemented by more precise gas chromatographic analyses of volatile compounds influencing the odor and flavors of EVOO.