**5.4. Olive oil labelling**

214 Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

plastic) the most used volumes have been previously cited.

without label in restaurants .

impossible to be easily traced.

product quality indicator (Paffarini, 2007).

**Figure 2.** PET, tinplate and single-dose sachets as olive oil packaging

producers of biological oil in the South and the Centre of Italy indicated that the bottle largely used is that of 0,75 L (about 85% of the total), followed by 0,50 L (about 58%) and 0,1 L (about 17%) ones (Paffarini, 2007). Low capacity packaging is gaining market approval above all for exported products and for those directed to a medium-high consumer segment. Packaging in 0,1 L bottles is also used for very valuable oil to evidence the product value. Producers propose on market sophisticated packaging created properly to contain one or more bottles, as those for tasting of 6 mL volume. For the other materials (steel, tinplate and

It is noteworthy, the recent distribution of 10 mL single-dose sachets, constituted by 100% extra virgin olive oil or olive oil mixed with vinegar, that is illustrated in Figure 2 with tinplate and PET containers. This type of packaging developed after the coming into effect of Italian Law 81/2006 (Official Bulletin, 2006), which bans the use of of olive oil containers

Moreover containers that can be used without common rules of hygiene and safety are also prohibited. So, it is admitted to present bottles provided of label (although their filling up is also allowed) and single-dose sachets formed by appropriate machines, which guarantee more safety and traceability of their material and because they are unable to be reused in fraudulent practice. The use of cruets is so banned because the origin of contained oil is

With the increase of container typologies and the research of more refined packaging in materials and graphic the supplementary cost merges into the final price that is, however, a The olive oil labelling has two principal functions: safety for consumer and aesthetic quality. It has to follow legal requirements and so present several technical informations, some of these facultative, other obligatory. For the graphic point of view, it results as presentation of the olive oil in market shelves.

When consumer purchases olive oil, he is also more interested on symbolic contents reported in label, as the original production territory and extraction process, with respect to the sensory and chemical-physical quality of product. The oil packaging in fact satisfies curiosity about origin and characteristics by means of label, back label or attached paper, especially buying particular containers in the organized distribution. Thus, packaging elements have gained a relevant role to communicate not only product characteristics but also its history, playing on emotions that are much linked to biological oils, for example, of which label can evocate proper quality of biological agriculture.

The new Regulation 182/2009/CE (Official Journal European Union, 2009) established that labelling must obligatory indicate the extra-virgin and virgin olive oil origin. This rule does not regard a protected geographical indication (PGI) or a protected designation of origin (PDO) qualified olive oils because they are submitted to another specific normative, that is the Regulation 510/2006/CE (Official Journal European Union, 2006).

Three typologies were defined by Regulation 182/2009/CE to indicate olive oil origin:


Regarding the indication about sensory characteristics, the Regulation 182/2009/CE sanctions that they must be reported only in labelling of extra-virgin and virgin olive oils, besides confirm of the voluntariness. Moreover, adjectives related to a positive attribute for the oil (e.g. "intense", "medium", "light", linked to fruity, green, ripe, etc.) are admitted exclusively if derived by an objective evaluation based on the International Olive Oil

Council method described in XII attachment of Reg. 2568/91/CE (Official Journal European Union, 1991) and revisions. The Regulation 182/2009/CE is a sort of Italian victory that can let acknowledge in a Communitarian regulation the possibility to indicate the production area of olive oils.

Packaging and Storage of Olive Oil 217

Anyone who reports acidity and other parameters in labelling must organize the necessary

Olive oil storage and packaging are final steps of the production process and are as important as the other ones. Deterioration agents can decrease the quality of this important food also during these unit operations, so a correct control and monitoring of some indicators can be useful to the olive oil shelf life. Storage environment and its characteristics

Packaging typologies also influence the stored olive oil properties with different results depending on materials. During the time various containers were adopted and evaluated with evident feedback for qualitative aspects (some material have been in fact banned for healthy causes). Moreover, the traditional uses can give to different preferences (e.g. in Italy is very difficult to substitute the glass apart from its ascertained value as packaging material

Future developments are surely expected because of many attentions on this subject also by scientific community and probably some materials will be improved and other container

*Agroalimentare e Ambientale (Bio.M.A.A.), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy* 

Aparicio, R., Roda, L., Albi, M.A. & Gutierrez, F. (1999). Effect of various compounds on virgin olive oil stability measured by Rancimat, *Journal of Agricultural and Food* 

Ben Tekaya, I., Ben Tekaya Ben Amor, I.,.Belgaied, S., El Atrache, A. & Hassouna M. (2007) Étude du conditionnement de l'huile d'olive dans les emballages en plastique. *Science* 

Cinquanta, L., Esti, M., & La Notte, E. (1997) Evolution of phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil during storage, *Journal of American Oil Chemists's Society* Vol. 74: 1259. Dabbou, S., Gharbi, I., Dabbou, S., Brahmi, F., Nakbi, A. & Hammami, M. (2011). Impact of packaging material and storage time on olive oil quality, *African Journal of Biotechnology*

evidence to prove the conformity of product to indicated limits.

types will be proposed in a more and more advanced food market.

**6. Conclusions** 

for olive oil).

**Author details** 

**7. References** 

Amalia Piscopo and Marco Poiana

*Chemistry* Vol. 47: 4150-4155.

Vol. 10 (No. 74): 16937-16947.

*des Aliments* Vol. 27 (No.3): 214-233.

*Dipartimento di Biotecnologie per il Monitoraggio,* 

(temperature most of all) contribute to it.

The question of mixing of olive oil with other vegetable oils is also well defined in the new Regulation that establishes that member States can ban in the territory the production of mix for internal consumption. Instead, they cannot prohibit on the territory the sale of mixes produced by other States and ban the mix production for the commercialization in another member State or the exportation. This regulation stopped an age-old argument in which Italian farms were penalized in particular in not Communitarian markets where did not compete at par with other member States for offer of oil mixtures. This product type is in fact requested particularly in USA and Asiatic markets.

In olive oil packaging labelling is distinguished in:


It is obligatory to indicate on the label:

	- "First cold-pressing" and "cold-pressed" are reserved to virgin oils obtained by extractions not above 27° C. To guarantee the truth of their declaration, olive farm owners could indicate the installed techniques for each stock of processed olives. The term "extracted" could be substituted by "obtained" or "produced"
	- Acidity could be reported only if accompanied by peroxides value, waxes content and spectrophotometrical values ( K232, K270, Delta K ). Values can be followed by the phrase "maximum values at packaging"
	- Polyphenol content only for olive oil that contains almost 5 mg of hydroxytirosol and its derivatives per 20 g of olive oil. This indication must be accompanied by information to the consumer that the beneficial effect is obtained after a daily consumption of 20 g of olive oil. This last parameter has been fixed by a recent Regulation (Official Journal European Union, 2012) on allowed healthy information on food products.

Anyone who reports acidity and other parameters in labelling must organize the necessary evidence to prove the conformity of product to indicated limits.
