EVOLUTION OF PHENOLIC-COMPOUNDS VIRGIN OLIVE OIL DURING STORAGE

Phenolic compounds are of fundamental importance to the shelf life of virgin olive oils because of their antioxidative properties. In this p aper, the evolution of simple and complex olive oil phenols during 18 mon of storage is studied by high-performance liquid chromatography (H PLC) analysis. The olive oils under examination were from various oliv e cultivars, harvested in two sectors in the same region at different stages of ripeness. The findings indicate that it is not the variety b ut rather the ripeness of the olives and the soil and climate that inf luence the phenol composition of virgin olive oil. In addition, a posi tive correlation was found between the age of the oils and the tyrosol to total phenols ratio. Lastly, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis confirmed that the unidentified peaks detected by HPLC were o f a phenolic nature.