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The volatile compounds of virgin olive oil (VOO) have an important role from a sensory point of view as they are responsible for the aroma of the oil. Once the oil is obtained, auto-oxidation is the main process contributing to its deterioration, modifying the volatiles profile and aroma. The addition of aromatic herbs to VOO is a traditional technique to change the flavor and to preserve the oil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on the volatile profile and sensory properties of flavoring VOO with rosemary and basil herbs and its impact on the evolution of the oxidative process during a six-month shelf-life study at 15.7 ± 3.6 °C and exposed to 500 ± 100 lx of light for 12 h each day. The determination of quality parameters, volatiles concentrations and VOO sensory properties and their comparison with the flavored VOO samples showed that the addition of basil or rosemary herbs, in addition to retarding the oxidation of the oil, allowed the discrimination of the flavored samples due to the migration of compounds from herbs to the oil. The aroma of basil olive oil (BOO) samples was mainly due to β-pinene, ocimene and 1,8-cineol compounds while for rosemary olive oil (ROO) samples, their aroma was mainly due to the concentrations of camphene, β-myrcene, α-terpinolene, limonene and 1,8-cineol. From the antioxidant standpoint, the effect of the herbs was more noticeable from the third month onwards.

A survey was launched to understand the current problems and sensitivities of the olive oil market through a series of questions clustered around topics related to quality, traceability, regulation, standard methods and other issues. The questions were selected after a series of interviews with different actors to identify those aspects where some disagreement or different points of view may exist. These questions were grouped in topics such as geographical traceability, consumer perception and quality management. The survey was addressed to eight different olive oil actors independently: producers, retailers, importers, exporters, analysts, workers at regulatory bodies, and consumers. Approximately half of the respondents (67.0% for consumers and 56.0% for the rest of olive oil actors) claimed to understand the importance of the protected designation of origin. In fact, the traceability objectives that were selected as the most relevant were those related with geographical traceability (19.3%) followed by the detection of adulteration (15.6%). Most of the respondents (80%) would agree to share data for a common database; however, some concerns exist about the use of these data and the issue of paying to have access to this database. The respondents mostly expressed an affirmative answer concerning the efficiency of panel test (74%) and a negative answer (90%) concerning the proposal of removing from regulation, although 42% agree with their revision for improvement. The opinions on “best before” date and their relationship with quality and the willingness to apply non-targeted methods were also surveyed.

Extra virgin olive oil is highly appreciated worldwide for its healthy and organoleptic properties. From the variety of compounds present in the oil, phenols stand out, not only for producing the bitter-pungent perception but also for their antioxidant properties, which contribute to human health protection. The addition of plants can change the phenolic profile due to a migration of plant antioxidants to the oil. The aim of this work was to study the evolution of the oxidative process of extra virgin olive oil under mild storage conditions for 8 months, monitoring the individual content of 15 phenols by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and the changes of the phenolic profile of the non-flavoured oil compared with the same flavoured (rosemary and basil) oil. The oxidative alteration was more marked in virgin than in flavoured oils, where it happened slowly. Throughout storage, the behaviour of the phenols varied, resulting in a decrease in their concentration, except in the case of tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol. The addition of plants had an antioxidant effect, slowing down the oxidative process, which prolongs the shelf life of the flavoured oil compared to the unflavoured oil. Furthermore, multivariate statistical analyses allowed the classification and differentiation of the different samples.

The control of virgin olive oil (VOO) freshness requires new tools that reflect the diverse chemical changes that take place during the market period. Fluorescence spectroscopy is one of the techniques that has been suggested for controlling virgin olive oil (VOO) freshness during its shelf-life. However, a complete interpretation of fluorescence spectra requires analyzing multiple parameters (chemical, physical–chemical, and sensory) to evaluate the pace of fluorescence spectral changes under moderate conditions with respect to other changes impacting on VOO quality. In this work, four VOOs were analyzed every month with excitation–emission fluorescence spectra. The same samples were characterized with the concentration of fluorophores (phenols, tocopherols, chlorophyll pigments), physical–chemical parameters (peroxide value, K232, K270, free acidity), and sensory attributes (medians of defects and of the fruity attribute). From the six components extracted with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), two components were assigned to chlorophyll pigments and those assigned to tocopherols, phenols, and oxidation products were selected for their ability to discriminate between fresh and aged oils. Thus, the component assigned to oxidation products correlated with K270 in the range 0.80–0.93, while the component assigned to tocopherols–phenols correlated with the fruity attribute in the range 0.52–0.90. The sensory analysis of the samples revealed that the changes of these PARAFAC components occurred at the same time as, or even before, the changes of the sensory characteristics.

Sensory assessment of virgin olive oil (“panel test”) is the only sensory method included in international regulations of edible oils and its application is compulsory. Even if its application has been a success in quality control, improving the quality of virgin olive oils over the last 30 years, at present, there is no reference material (RM), in the strict sense of the term, to be used as a validated standard for sensory defects of virgin olive oil with which tasters can be trained. Usually, real samples of virgin olive oils assessed by many panels for the International Olive Council (IOC) ring tests are used as materials of reference in panel training and control. The latter are highly representative of the main perceived defects, but availability is limited, samples are not homogeneous year after year, and other secondary defects can be present. Thus, in order to provide solutions, this work describes an analytical procedure for implementing olfactory formulations that emulate rancid and winey-vinegary defects found in virgin olive oils with the aim of providing reproducible RMs that can be prepared on demand. A strategy for designing RMs for aroma is presented and the optimization process to obtain the best formulation is described. Under the criteria of representativeness, verified with the advice of the IOC, aroma persistence, and simplicity in formulation, two RMs for winey-vinegary and rancid were obtained by diluting acetic acid and ethanol (winey-vinegary defect) and hexanal (rancid defect) together with other compounds that are used to modify aroma and avoid non-natural sensory notes.

Virgin olive oil is inevitably subject to an oxidation process during storage that can affect its stability and quality due to off-flavors that develop before the oil surpasses its ‘best before’ date. Many parameters are involved in the oxidation process at moderate conditions. Therefore, a multiparametric study is necessary to establish a link between physico-chemical changes and sensory quality degradation in a real storage experiment. In this context, a storage experiment of 27 months was performed for four monovarietal virgin olive oils, bottled in transparent 500-mL PET bottles and subjected to conditions close to a supermarket scenario. Volatile composition, quality parameters and phenolic compounds were determined monthly. Simultaneously, an accredited sensory panel assessed their sensory characteristics. The stability of the fresh samples was also studied with the oxidative stability index (OSI) and mesh cell-FTIR. (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol and (E)-2-hexen-1-ol were identified as markers of the fruity attribute. Hexanal and nonanal were also identified as compounds that were associated with the rise of median of defect during storage. Some disagreements were observed between the sensory assessment and the OSI analyzed by Rancimat. However, the increase of concentration of rancid markers agreed with the increase of aldehyde band measured with mesh cell-FTIR.

The flavor of dry cured ham explains the high appreciation of this product and it determines consumer acceptance. Volatile compounds provide valuable information about the odor and sensory quality of dry cured hams. Since amino acids are the origin of some volatile compounds of dry cured ham, the volatile and amino acid compositions of forty-one dry cured hams from Spain and France were determined to establish associations between them. The samples included different pig breeds (non Iberian vs. Iberian), which were additionally affected by different maturation times and feeding types (acorn vs. fodder). Results showed that 20 volatile compounds were able to distinguish Iberian and non Iberian hams, and 16 of those had relevant sensory impact according to their odor activity values. 3-Methylbutanol, 2-heptanol and hexanal were among the most concentrated volatile compounds. In the case of non-volatile compounds, the concentrations of amino acids were generally higher in Iberian hams, and all the amino acids were able to distinguish Iberian from non Iberian hams with the exception of tryptophan and asparagine. A strong correlation of some amino acids with volatile compounds was found in the particular case of alcohols and aldehydes when only Iberian hams were considered. The high correlation values found in some cases proved that proteolysis plays an important role in aroma generation.