MACOOIL · Multidimensional Approaches for Comprehensive Olive Oil Authentication

Virgin olive oil is probably the most representative and iconic component of the Mediterranean diet. No industrial processes or chemicals are added during production, thus providing an extra value reflected in its higher price compared to most edible oils. For this reason, the assessment of the quality, safety and authenticity is of importance from both economic and health perspectives. Considerable effort has been put during the last decades in this direction. Organizations such as the European Union, the International Olive Council and The Codex Alimentarius (FAO-WHO) have established guidelines and regulations to protect the quality and authenticity of virgin olive oil and to prevent fraud. However, despite these efforts towards developing new procedures for olive oil quality and authenticity assessment, appropriate solutions for some specific issues have not been found yet. Current gaps in EU analytical methods include the detection of selected blends of olive oil with other vegetable oils (seed oils), to identify fraud. Hence, it is urgent to identify and improve analytical solutions that can detect both standard and emerging frauds and to meet all the international market required information . MACOOIL (Multidimensional approaches for comprehensive olive oil authentication) aims to propose novel cutting-edge solutions based on mass spectrometry, previously unexplored in the field, to provide adequate solutions for some of the challenges -in terms of authenticity- that need to be addressed in the virgin olive oil sector. This project will develop novel tools to extend the potential to detect fraudulent practices of mixing virgin with refined (deodorized) lower-quality olive oil.