Developing a new method to analyse volatile substances in extra virgin olive oil

The applications of gas chromatography in the field of food science are of great importance for the assessment of food quality and safety. As an example, volatile compounds are key molecules in the definition of the overall quality of extra virgin olive oil.1 New methods to analyse volatile substances in olive oil by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry are currently under investigation in our laboratory. Interesting preliminary results show that the aqueous extract of olive oil can provide the same result as when the analysis is carried out on the oil as such, with the advantage that the oil aqueous extract is much easier to handle, the solid-phase microextraction fiber assembly used has a much longer lifetime and the use of an internal standard is allowed, while using the oil as such, the homogenization of the internal standard is practically unfeasible. The results of the study will be presented and discussed. References: 1) Angerosa, F.; Servili, M.; Selvaggini, R.; Taticchi, A.; Esposto, S., Montedoro, G. Journal of Chromatography A 2004, 1054, 17-31.