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- Key quality indicators
The production of olive oil is one of the key sectors of industry in Europe. At the same time, olive oil production is considered as a cultural heritage of trade. The EU Mediterranean countries, produce around 67% of olive oil. The majority of countries targeting the most production within the EU are Spain, Italy and Greece. The quality of the olive oil in the EU is defined by the regulations: Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91 on the characteristics of olive oil and olive-residue oil and on the relevant methods of analysis, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1096 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 29/2012 as regards the requirements for certain indications on the labelling of olive oil. In general, based on the regulations were defined the quality standards of olive oil production. Divided into 8 categories:
- Extra virgin olive oil, which is the highest quality. It has no organoleptic defects and is fruity. Its acidity level must not exceed 0.8%.
- Virgin olive oil may have some sensory defects, but at a very low level. Its acidity must not exceed 2%.
- Lampante olive oil, is a lower-quality virgin olive oil with an acidity of more than 2%, with no fruity characteristics and substantial sensory defects. It is refined or used for industrial purposes.
- Refined olive oil, is obtained after refining mostly lampante and sometimes virgin olive oil. It is not intended for the retail market and has a degree of acidity of up to 0.3%.
- Olive oil composed of refined and virgin olive oil (as the result of blending) results from the blending of refined olive oil with extra virgin or virgin olive oils. It has a degree of acidity of up to 1%.
- Crude olive-pomace oil, is obtained from the residual paste obtained after the oil is extracted by mechanical means.
- Refined olive-pomace oil is obtained by refining crude olive-pomace oil. It can have a degree of acidity of up to 0.3%.
- Olive-pomace oil results from the blending of refined olive-pomace oil with extra virgin or virgin olive oil and has a degree of acidity of up to 1%.
Based on EU regulations on olive oil industry, also considered the physico-chemical and organoleptic characteristics of the olive oil. The physico-chemical characteristics include: the acidity level, the peroxide index, the fatty acid content and the sterols composition. The organoleptic characteristics include: fruitiness and the absence of any organoleptic defects.
As to analysis methods, the following outlined as the most effective indicators for evaluation of olive oil quality:
- free fatty acids, expressed as the percentage of oleic acid
- peroxide index
- wax content
- composition and content of sterols and triterpene dialcohols
- percentage of 2-glyceryl monopalmitate
- Fatty Acid Composition
- organoleptic characteristics of virgin olive oil
- stigmastadienes
- triglycerides
- waxes, fatty acid methyl esters and fatty acid ethyl esters.
After the process of evaluation, the process maintains the labelling stage. At this point the standards provided by the EU regulations include the harvesting year and indication of the acidity due to durability date.
The information above from the EU regulations on olive oil production and categories of olive oil:
- Factors affecting quality
Risks on olive oil quality depend on several factors such as storage, olive oil category (or blended), transportation, so-called food fraud. Food fraud - is a misrepresentation of olive oil, for that reason quality control is key in the industry. As to storage, it is an important part of the durability of olive oil. Likewise, as a quality of the olives used for production. The data provided by EU Regulation on Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2104 of 29 July 2022 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013: as for consumers - the label should clearly contain the durability date, category of oil olive and conditions for storage.
As for producers, postproduction stage, before bottling, is recommended based on International Olive Council:
- The temperature of the storage room is supposed to be between 13 and 25 °C in stainless tanks. The inner space of the tank should be saturated with the inner gas (nitrogen or argon under a controlled atmosphere). The following helps to reduce the exposure of olive oil to oxygen.
- As proposed in case of virgin olive oil, the council recommends pouring to remove the sediments. Sediments are the matter settling at the bottom of the liquid.
- During transportation it is recommended to reduce the time as much as possible.
- The key is also to avoid the heating, exposure of light, air during loading and unloading.
- Filtration is also an essential part of production of olive oil. After the filtration all the suspended water and solid microparticles were removed. By that the fermentative process and chemical reactions are being minimised to the lowest point, hence the initially achieved quality cannot be compromised. The highly recommended is usage of conduct paper, cotton and/or flood filtration, or filtrate using very pure and inert diatomaceous earth of fossil origin (fossil flour) for rough filtration.
Packaging & bottling the olive oil stage:
- In order to keep the high-quality, it is crucial to keep the temperature constant (between 13 and 25°C and the low light intensity in the pre-distribution room.
- Before packaging the rough filtration or natural decantation should be done.
- The package must protect the oil from the light (suggested to use dark glass bottles, stainless steel bottles, cans, multilayer steel tin plate, sleeves to completely protect clear glass bottles from the light).
- Also, the bottle containing the oil should be protected by cardboard against light, label also high-temperature resistance materials (polystyrene or, better, reusable thermal containers).
- For the customer, on the package the clear indication is supposed to say: “KEEP AWAY FROM LIGHT AND HEAT” ¨.
In general, the presented factors and solutions are the best practices assured to be accessible for the producers and consumers of the olive oil. The measurements are based on the provided data combined both by International Olive Council and EU regulations on the matter of quality , market standards and storage conditions.
- Challenges in maintaining quality
The challenges in the context of olive oil quality are both market and related production. Market challenges mainly appear due to competition between suppliers, inflation and the cost of producing the olive oil. Directly related to the production process are climate change with its temperature variation is changeable. Therefore, the growth and harvest of the olives is affected by natural causes.
The ongoing improvement of the agriculture sector within EU countries has a great impact on every sector present in export and import. Mainly involved are Mediterranean countries with a long history of production of olive oil, considering it as a heritage and cultural element of their countries.
Direct natural causes influencing the quality of olive oil are mainly related to weather, soil and climate conditions for growth of the high-quality olives.