On September 7th, during the inauguration day of the Monte Pisano Oil Mill, a seminar will be held with the participation of Prof. Andrea Bellincontro (University of Tuscia) and Prof. Maurizio Servili (University of Perugia).
Here are the details of the presentations.
“Sensors and Non-Destructive Analytics for Monitoring Olive Ripening and Evaluating Their Oil-Making Quality”
by Prof. Andrea Bellincontro – University of Tuscia, Viterbo – Department of Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest Systems
The quality of an “oil olive and the commercial characteristics of the” oil that can be derived from it are strongly influenced by its ripening and by “identifying its most appropriate harvest time. This choice focuses on the most efficient balance of the various characteristics attributable to the drupe, oil yield and composition of the fatty component, together with richness and complexity of the phenolic fraction and aromatic potential, which will benefit the” produced oil. The maximization of quality parameters by an olive “oil sets the” stage for its commercial value, as well as its organoleptic-sensory qualities and shelf life. The “opportunity to make consistent choices in” identifying the most favorable moments for harvesting is, moreover, significantly affected by the evident effects of ongoing climate change. Among these, we highlight: shortening and anticipation of phenological phases, imbalances in the ripening of individual components, and serious issues related to production and yields.
In this general framework, the use of non-destructive analytical technologies, based on sensory approaches, emphasizes “the need for” quality parameter evaluation that, in contrast to more traditional laboratory analytics, is completed and implemented quickly and serves as an agile and responsive decision-making tool.
Near-infrared vibrational spectroscopy (NIR) and the “use of artificial noses (E-noses), based on sensors capable of detecting aromatic and olfactory fingerprints, have been tested on olives, olive pastes, and oils with interesting directional indications. Their use has been evaluated as a promising predictive investigation tool for quality linked to varietal characteristics and to” ripening evolution, to the presence and quantification of specific molecules and their expression, both in the starting matrices and in the processed product.
High-quality Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil between Product Differentiation and Process Innovation
by Prof. Maurizio Servili, Full Professor of Food Science and Technology, Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (DSA3) University of Perugia, Via San Costanzo, snc. Perugia.
The world of olive oils will need to address strategic issues regarding future production and product enhancement strategies. In addressing this issue, we must always keep in mind the current motivations for consuming extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). These certainly have nothing to do with low production costs and/or selling prices; extra virgin has been and will be, among oils consumed by humans globally, the most expensive in absolute terms. This 2.7%-3% of global vegetable fat consumption must therefore be linked to something other than market price. For some countries, see Mediterranean ones, the main motivation for consumption is undoubtedly linked to tradition, for other non-regular consumers there must be something else. The charm of Mediterranean tradition has played and continues to play an important role in doubling olive oil consumption recorded in the last thirty years, but certainly beyond the historical/emotional aspect, the health and sensory properties of virgin olive oils certainly represent a strategic factor in consumption motivation. The mantra handed down for decades and perhaps, in the memory of Mediterranean peoples for millennia, that olive oil is good for health should however be filled with objective content, otherwise it goes in favor of those products, still extracted from olives, but with production costs and objective quality certainly not up to the health expectations of a globalized and informed consumer. This is even more true in comparison with other vegetable oils that could boast health properties similar to those of olive oil, perhaps not high-quality extra virgin, but with astronomically lower production costs, see for example high-oleic sunflower oil. Incidentally, these happy hour consumers certainly have strange preferences, “light” wines “with low alcohol content and highly alcoholic beers up to 12% alcohol imitating wines, what can we say, this is the volatility and fickleness of social-directed consumer tastes. Obviously, we must be concerned about adapting the product to consumer tastes, but we should also try to educate and therefore, as far as possible, guide these tastes and not drift aimlessly among their waves following a capricious and changeable current. Wine is an excellent example of a luxury good where consumption is mainly linked to the emotions it can evoke, but” oil is “something else, it’s a fundamental food in a correct and healthy diet and the” adaptation to changing hedonistic consumer needs must in any case deal with the health value of the product, especially when it has organoleptic implications. We often hear some supposed guardians of tradition talking about returning to “mild” oils” as traditional at the expense of those that are fruity, pungent, and bitter, considered “heretical “compared to the presumed tradition. Beyond the fact that it should be defined which traditional standards are being referenced, those of half a century ago or a century, a millennium or maybe two millennia, incidentally, the early harvest olive oils produced by the Romans and called “oleum ex albis olivis”” or “oleum viride “”, considered even then as top quality, were probably “pungent”” and “bitter “” and not “mild”” as probably was ““oleum maturum”, obtained from late-ripening olives, so even the references to tradition should be substantiated but, controversies aside, as is often said, the problem is something else. Yes, something else, namely the indisputable fact that the notes of “pungent “” and “bitter”” in an extra virgin olive oil are directly linked to the content of bioactive phenolic compounds and therefore to the consequent health properties associated with them. Yes, high-quality EVOO and this is the problem because oils lacking bioactive phenolic compounds, with low vitamin E content, maybe even poor in oleic acid, can certainly be extra virgin, based on international regulations, but have no significant effects on consumer health. What has been stated risks being considered blasphemous or perhaps politically incorrect compared to the story handed down by those operators or disseminators who like to remain vague about the oil-health relationship so that any oil, as long as it’s extracted from olives, is inherently superior quality, but correct information towards that type of consumer who wants to know what they consume and pay in relation to what they buy I believe is the basis of a correct and lasting pact between who produces and who consumes. In any case, the health properties of an EVOO are partly codified and can be communicated objectively, even if a revision of commercial standards that differentiate a high-quality extra virgin, that is, with adequate health and sensory properties, from the standard one which, while being extra virgin, does not have the aforementioned properties, would certainly help to clarify. More complex is the “sensory aspect because, except for the evaluation of the presence or absence of sensory defects, strictly codified by commercial standards, when talking about ‘aromas’ and therefore the description of the ‘fruitiness’, too often one abandons oneself to suggestion or interpretation by the individual taster, more or less expert and active on social media. Some time ago I read a title of an informative article that struck me very much as it talked about ‘two hundred and more aromas’ of EVOO. While reading the text they weren’t exactly two hundred, the fact remains that this not at all rigorous approach to the sensory properties of an EVOO certainly doesn’t help correct consumer information and even less creates culture around the product. As a researcher who has been working on volatile compounds with potential sensory impact in virgin olive oils for more than twenty-five years, I can state with certainty that there aren’t even, at least in the current state of knowledge, more than 200 volatile compounds with sensory impact in EVOO, including in this number not only those responsible for so-called ‘aromas’ but also, alas, those associated with defects, it is therefore difficult to understand how one can spread the” idea that extra virgin oils have all these “aromas” for which there are no impact compounds and even less the biochemical bases that should explain their presence in EVOO. Therefore the problem of correct consumer training and information remains open and at the moment, without solution. One could object that marketing strategies can start from immaterial values that have nothing to do with the objective quality of the product and that are often winning. This is absolutely true, geographical origin, biodiversity, ancient olive groves, heroic olive growing, sustainability, ethical value, religious value, are just some of the immaterial values of quality on which the marketing of a niche product can and certainly must be based. Absolutely true but if then the objective quality in the product isn’t “there, we risk building a castle on sand and we should once again learn from” wine experience, where the “entire marketing edifice is based only on immaterial and emotional values and therefore, unfortunately, like all fleeting and changeable emotions.
The above statements lead to saying that national olive growing, or rather national olive growing in its various forms and historical, environmental and agronomic production conditions, must try to differentiate itself by communicating to the consumer without doubt, history, culture, tradition and whatever else is linked to their millennial history but should have one point in common: that of producing a product that is objectively high quality, this also in light of the fact that our production costs are and will remain among the highest in the world.
We are therefore “destined” as an olive-growing country to produce quality and both agronomic choices and production technologies, including technological innovation, should be based on this principle. Process “innovation in the” mechanical extraction of virgin olive oils is inspired by principles of quality and product sustainability. The extraction processes have been innovated in every operational phase starting from crushing and malaxation. Reference is made, in particular, to the “introduction of crushers with differentiated impact on the constituent parts of the fruit and malaxers with controlled gas exchange, which allow modulating the” activity of the fruit’s endogenous enzymes (lipoxygenase, polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase) improving the aromatic profile and phenolic content of the oils. Innovation “has then concerned the” efficiency of heat exchange with the “introduction of heat exchangers, and the enhancement of the” extraction efficiency of the plants with the “application of emerging technologies such as ultrasound, pulsed electric fields and high vacuum technology in malaxation. These processes also positively impact product quality. Furthermore, to minimize the” negative impact on EVOO quality of “high temperatures during harvest due to global warming and early olive harvesting, cold technologies are applied to the production process. Different cooling methods have been developed and tested to lower the temperature of the fruit or olive paste during the main phases of the extraction process, in order to promote the development of volatile compounds responsible for green sensory notes and preserve the phenolic fraction from oxidative processes, thus improving the quality standard of the final product. In addition to the above, there are innovations related to the valorization of virgin olive oil extraction by-products ranging from the recovery of bioactive phenolic compounds from vegetation water and their application in the” food and pharmaceutical industry, to the valorization of de-stoned virgin pomace in “animal feed or in the production of new foods with functional properties for” human consumption. All this is aimed at improving the economic and environmental sustainability of the production process with the “goal of achieving a zero-waste olive chain.