Soft-deodorization of virgin olive oil: Study of the changes of quality and chemical composition

The potential adulteration of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with soft-deodorized virgin olive oil (VOO) has raised the interest of researchers in investigating this fraud in recent years. The objective of this study was to determine chemical changes occurring after a soft-deodorization process in terms of volatiles, fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) and pyropheophytins (PPPs) concentrations in VOOs. After testing several conditions (80, 100 and 130 degrees C, for 30 and 60 min), the parameters of 100 degrees C and 60 min were considered as the optima. These conditions allowed removing volatiles responsible for sensory defects with low losses of total phenols (14%-32%), and values of PPPs (11.83%) and FAEEs (34.53 mg/kg) lower than the limits of standard regulations. The experiments show that soft-deodorized VOOs could be added up to 50% to EVOOs and current standard methods would not detect this kind of adulteration. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.