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Homepage » Olive Oil » Quality Indicators

• The Composition
• Chart Of Olive Oil Categories
• What Is Acidity?
• Quality Indicators

Quality Indicators

When we talk about quality, we refer to something positive. Quality is an agreement about the quality characteristics of a product, on the basis of which the whole market reconciles.
For this reason, in order to classify the quality of the oil, the market * follows presuppositions of hygiene, nutrition and commercial safety and of course nutritious value.

The 5 basic factors for the evaluation of the olive oil are:

• Absence of irregularities.
• Purity – absence of residue.
• Authenticity
• Chemical balance.
• Origin

Absence of irregularities

To determine this factor there is a very complicated analytical methodology (regulation {EC} no. 268/91).

Two parameters are the most significant:

• the acidity and
• the opinion of the tasters for the evaluation of the olive oil.

The acidity, expressed as grams of oleic acid per 100 grams of oil, is an indicator of good production and technological extraction of the olive oil. The three basic categories of virgin olive oil are separated and measured by the degree of acidity.

The opinion of the group of tasters is very valuable for the determination of organoleptic irregularities of the oil which occur both from mistakes during production as well as during the collecting or the maintenance and the processing. From 8 to 12 experienced tasters state their opinion regarding the sample with regard to the taste and aromatic characteristics. In cases where there is a huge difference of opinion, they are obliged to revise or cancel the tasting.

Purity

It is the factor which implies an absence of any type of foreign substance, whether from the grove or during the harvesting, or transportation, production or while being stored.

Authenticity

This term evaluates the olive oil specifically and is a factor which ensures that the product has been produced only from the olive fruit, only through mechanical means and special physical processing ( to separate them from the fruit) excluding every procedure (e.g.: thermal procedure) which may bring a change to the characteristics of the product.

Chemical Balance

This factor is decisive to characterise olive oil. It refers to the levels e.g. of vitamins and antioxidants and the relation of fatty acids which show the stability, the taste, the level of keeping up and the hygienic safety of the oil.
A good olive oil must have the quantities of components well balanced, the acids and the vitamins and the antioxidants.

Origin

The production of olive oil is tightly linked to the climatological and geographical, cultural factors of its origin of production. Here we meet objective factors which, according to the civilization and culture, the people give their own taste and aromatic specifications of quality.
This is the way that food products are created with protected names of origin (POP) and protected geographical indications (PGE) within the EE (regulation E.E. 2081/92).