Project set to satisfy olive oil regulations
A group of researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Vigo in Spain has proposed a method to quantify the phenolic content of extra virgin olive oils in order to satisfy the requirements introduced by the EU regulation.
Project researcher from the University of Bologna, Giuseppe Di Lecce said: “As it is well known, there are sophisticated chromatographic techniques, such as the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to ultraviolet-visible or mass spectrometry detector, that are used to evaluate the phenolic content of virgin olive oils.
“However, these systems require very expensive analytical tools and qualified technicians, while the promising results obtained in this preliminary study show that the simple and cheap colorimetric assay based on the use of the Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) reagent can be also efficiently applied to verify the compliance to the polyphenols health claim introduced by the EU regulation.”
The FC method is a well-known colorimetric assay that requires only common and cheap equipment and can be executed in any laboratory.
Based on a preliminary study, the researchers proposed using hydroxytyrosol to express the results obtained with the FC method. Enrico Valli from the University of Bologna added: “Tests carried out by statistical software found FC data to be fully comparable with those obtained, after hydrolysis, with the HPLC-UV method using hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol to express the results.”
With €5m of financial support under the Horizon 2020 EU OLEUM project, the overall objective is to assure the quality and authenticity of olive oils at a global scale.
The team published its findings in the European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology.
