CORDIS

Europe accounts for more than 70% of global olive oil (OO) production; non-EU countries, traditionally importers, are also increasing production. This, as well as the enlarged competitiveness, highlights the need to update and harmonize analytical methods for assuring quality and authenticity of OO. The high price of OO, its sensory profile, and healthy reputation make it a target for fraud. Based on these premises, the overall objective of OLEUM is to guarantee OO quality and authenticity through three strategic actions:
1. Develop new and/or improved analytical methods.
2. Establish an online, integrated database, the OLEUM Databank.
3. Promote the OLEUM Network, a worldwide community of OO sector stakeholders.
Four main areas of improvement need to be addressed by OLEUM:
i) Legislative and regulatory: developing solutions to support international regulators and policy makers.
ii) Analytical: revising existing and developing new analytical methods for OO quality and authenticity.
iii) Harmonization and coordination: promoting technology transfer to a wide community. A user-friendly OLEUM Databank will store data, analytical methods and calibration materials.
iv) Consumer and market confidence: developing a simple and proactive dissemination strategy to promote the correct image of OO.
OLEUM, coordinated by Prof. Tullia Gallina Toschi (University of Bologna), started in September 2016, has a duration of 4 years and involves 20 partners from 15 countries.

An update of the common and emerging frauds in the OO sector was delivered, also considering the answers to questionnaires sent to stakeholders and the EU FFN National Contact. A selection was made, among all the approaches developed, to choose among the four analytical methods and the two sensory RMs to be fully validated:
-New/revised method to detect illegal blends of OOs with other vegetable oils: determination of free and esterified sterols.
-Revised method to detect blends of EVOOs with soft-deodorized OOs: determination of fatty acids ethyl esters (FAEEs).
-Method to be selected during the project: determination of phenolic compounds (health claim).
-Methods/tools to support assessment of the organoleptic characteristics of VOOs (Quantitative Panel Test): winey-vinegary and rancid as sensory reference materials (RMs), untargeted SPME-GC-MS as a screening approach based on volatiles, SPME-GC-FID and SPME-GC-MS as targeted methods for determination of selected volatiles.
For the analytical activities addressing OO quality, more than 300 commercial VOO samples were analyzed by different techniques and sensory evaluation was carried out by six accredited panels. A decision tree for a robust quality grade classification of each sample, based on the sensory results, was built. Two new artificial sensory RMs were formulated and tested by the six panels. Software to estimate the freshness/quality deterioration of VOOs was established. The following analytical protocols were validated in-house: SPME-GC-MS and SPME-GC-FID for the determination of selected OOs; an untargeted SPME-GC-MS screening approach, followed by chemometric elaboration, to support the Panel test; a portable system to measure free acidity; a rapid fluorescent method to detect the total amount of lipophilic phenolic compound; a UHPLC-DAD method for determination of phenolic compounds (health claim).
For the analytical activities addressing OO authenticity, samples of illegal (soft-deodorized OOs and vegetable oils) and legal (vegetable oils) blends with OOs and EVOOs were prepared and analyzed. Two alternative approaches for a more sustainable separation of FAEEs were validated in-house, as well as a protocol for determining free and esterified sterols. A decision tree for the detection of percentages of OO in blends with other vegetable oils was elaborated. Commercial VOOs were analyzed to establish the conformity of label-declared geographical origin.
The OLEUM Databank was launched in a ready-to-use beta version. The need to balance openness and protection of scientific information, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), security, maintenance of the OLEUM Databank were considered.
Work has focused on developing the membership and contents of two OLEUM Network platforms: the OLEUM Linkedin group has over 100 members, with 66 members for the secure platform. More than 150 contacts are candidates who are taking part in the training workshops and validation studies. Sustainability of the OLEUM Network post project was evaluated. For a wide communication and dissemination, the project website is regularly updated, and newsletters have been released. An infographic to simply explain and disseminate the different OO quality grades was developed. Scientific articles were published, as well as several others in popular and trade media; abstracts were presented in more than 20 conferences, even in dedicated OLEUM sessions.

OLEUM is converting its goals into concrete impacts addressing the major players in the OO arena:
1. The OO industry and quality control laboratories: one of the main OLEUM outputs is the generation of two waves of new and revised methods to detect fraud and verify the quality of OO. OLEUM relies on full validated methods and reference materials delivered to regulatory bodies and their provision to Standard Developing Organization (IOC, EU, ISO, CODEX). The OLEUM Databank will multiply the dissemination of methods and data, with an evident benefit for the official quality control laboratories and for the OO industry (some sections of the Databank will be public). The existence and update of the OLEUM Databank has already caught the attention of standardization bodies and relevant stakeholders (e.g. ISO, AOCS, AOAC) and will improve the reputation of the EU foods. The issue of transferability of data is also associated with the need to enhance the range of analytical expertise and the proficiency of the laboratories within the OO international community. This should reduce the litigations due to the not correct application of the methods.
2. International regulators and policy makers: the impact of OLEUM lies in supporting the establishment of a harmonized system for fraud protection. OLEUM is acting on the technical tables of several OO policy makers in finding solutions that can be translated into recommendations and guidelines. The impact of OLEUM also deals with the possibility to speed up the adoption of validated procedures, thanks to a collaborative validation carried out before the proposal to regulatory bodies. During this process, played at a global level, new needs and drawbacks are raised with a continuous feeding of quality/authenticity controls.
3. Consumers and the OO market: OLEUM is eliciting public comprehension and dissemination of the unique characteristics of OO, as well as a better guarantee and perception of effective detection of illegal practices, thus restoring consumers’ confidence and enlarging the correct and direct knowledge around OO. One of the novelties of OLEUM is the sense of responsibility, commitment in defending the reputation of OOs, sustainability aspects, and culture. This can be realized by not feeding the easy road of the scandal, but providing timely reliable information. With this aim, OLEUM is adopting different channels and tools, including e.g. visual games, simple answers to simple questions, and training sessions for the methods developed.