WORKSHOP ON THE ANALYSIS OF ABSOLUTE CONCENTRATION OF STEROLS IN OLIVE OILS TRA PASSATO PRESENTE E FUTURO
24th JANUARY 2023 ROME QUIRINALE HOTEL ROMA HOTEL QUIRINALE
SCADENZA ISCRIZIONI 20.01.2023
 | Patronage by Accademia Nazionale dell’Olivo e dell’Olio |
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
| 09:00 | Delegates registration |
| 9:30 | Welcome addresses and introduction of works of the day |
| 9:50 | Historical overview of sterols analyses and their legal limits in olive oils and olive pomace oils Lanfranco Conte SISSG Italy |
| 10:15 | Penalties for the non compliance of olive oils for human consumption Angelo Faberi ICQRF Italy |
| 10:40 | Presentation of collected data of total sterols content of olive oils Maurizio Servili University of Perugia Italy |
| 11:20 | Coffee break |
| 11:40 | Round table: future perspectives. Possible solutions? Invited organizations: UE DG Agriculture and Rural Development Unit E4 IOC International Olive Council Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Italian Inspectorate for Quality Promotion and Food Fraud Detection Italian Excise Customs and State Monopolies SSOG Innovhub Stazioni Sperimentali per l’Industria Oli e Grassi alimentari CREA Italian Council for Research in Agriculture and Agriculture economy Boards of Italian Producers |
| 13:00 | Conclusions, farewell addresses SISSG |
| 13:15 | Light Lunch |
Simultaneous translation (Italian/English) available
SCADENZA ISCRIZIONI 20.01.2023
CRITICAL ISSUES OF THE ANALYSIS OF THE STEROL FRACTION IN OLIVE AND OLIVE-POMACE OILS
Lanfranco Conte
Chairperson SISSG
The analysis of the sterol fraction of vegetable oils and olive oils in particular has been a cornerstone for the evaluation of their purity since the 1960s’, in particular since (about 1967) when genetically improved seed oils with a composition of fatty acids similar to that of olive oils became available on trade. Earlier, gas chromatographic analysis was performed with packed columns (moreover the only ones available at the time) which had strong limits of separating power, later the development of stationary phases of different polarity highlighted other components (e.g., the Δ 5-avenasterol) and finally the use of capillary columns led to a very strong increase in the separating power with the consequent highlighting of other components.
At the end of the 80s, some Italian chemists highlighted the presence on the market of refined olive oils characterized by particularly low ultraviolet absorption values, in such a way making them undetectable when mixed with virgin olive oils; a collateral observation highlighted that these oils had a sterol content lower than the average observed until then, probably as a side effect of the treatments applied to "correct" the spectrophotometry, similarly the particularly stressful refining conditions were held responsible for the reduced content of seed oil sterols with a high oleic acid content; in both cases, however, the high separating power of the capillary columns made it possible to highlight the presence of trans-isomers of the fatty acids and newly formed compounds within the unsaponifiable fraction. trans- degli acidi grassi e di composti di neoformazione all’interno della frazione insaponificabile.
These findings determined probability the decision to include the minimum content of sterols as a purity parameter in Reg. (EEC) 2568; it should be remembered that the evaluation of stigmastadienes (dehydration products of sterols that are formed during the refining phase) became an official method only in 1995, as well as the evaluation of the ΔECN 42 which today are the two most effective methods in highlighting non-compliant oils.
However, in more recent years, the presence of olive oils with total sterol content values lower than the legal limit (1000 mg/kg) even if certainly genuine and often of high quality has been observed with increasing frequency. It is not clear why this occurs, according to some it would be a typical characteristic of oils obtained from early harvested olives, even if in reality, this proposal is often not associated with an assessment of the "earliness" of the harvest in terms, for example, of maturation; moreover, there is no shortage of scientific works which instead truly associate the synthesis of sterols with the progress of maturation; also for this case, the influence of the changed climatic conditions is invoked, as well as of the characteristics of the cultivar, but also in this case there is no reliable and incontrovertible scientific evidence, since, if initially the observation of low values of total sterols it seemed to be the prerogative of only a couple of CVs, in the following years it affected other CVs.
If the influence of CV is the reason, the problem became particularly serious for some DOP oils which have limited or no possibility of mixing oils of different CVs.
Another consideration concerns the fact that at the time of the adoption of Reg(EEC) 2568/91, the production of monocultivar oils was practically absent from the market and therefore there was no information on the hypothesized influence of the individual cvs, at the time, moreover, the harvesting of the olives and consequent milling generally took place in more advanced times than what happens today and the collection of data to establish the limit therefore concerned a more homogeneous overall production.
Finally, it is worthwhile to remember that the absolute content of sterols is one of the parameters of authenticity and consequently that it may incur legal consequences of a non-trivial extent.
The problem was brought by Italy to the attention of the regulatory (International Olive Council) and legislative (European Union) bodies already several years ago; the former has promoted a collection of data with the aim to get a solution, however the expected times are of the order of a few years.
Among other things, IOC would seem oriented towards the adoption of a decision tree as a solution to the problem, which risks making the times even longer, if we consider that after three years of data collection, one or more other parameters, or rather, mathematical expressions that link together other parameters capable of recognizing the authenticity of oils with a sterol content lower than the legal limit.
It is clear that such a temporal scan is not compatible with the needs of the production sector and that adequate information is needed to promote regulatory action that adapts its operating times to those of production and marketing; the Italian Society for the Study of Fatty Substances has therefore promoted the organization of a study day to encourage the exchange of information between the parties involved.
The study day, which has already received confirmation of participation from the Head of Unit of the General Division of Agriculture and Rural Development of the EU and the patronage of the National Academy of Olives and Oil, will take place in Rome on January 24th 2023 at the Hotel Quirinale and, after a "historical" introduction, information on the Italian sanctioning framework and the presentation of analytical data collected by various public and private Italian research, experimentation and control bodies, will see the holding of a round table to which they have been invited , in addition to the EU DG Agriculture and Rural Development, the IOC, MASAF, ICQRF and the Customs Agency, CREA, Innovhub SSOG and the producers' associations.
The hope is that the achievement of a better knowledge of the reasons of the different players in the sector can lead to the identification of a temporary and/or definitive solution, which puts an end to a situation that strongly penalizes sectors of excellence of national production, for obvious advantage of extra national productions.
English (UK) 
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