Evaluation of oxidative phenomena in extra virgin olive oil: Possibility to reduce the number of analytical determinations

In this paper, the possibility to evaluate the oxidative phenomena and the quality of extra virgin olive oil of different cultivars (Coratina and Ogliarola) by means of HPSEC analysis of polar compounds matched with multivariate statistical analysis, has been considered. The obtained results pointed out that the oxidized triacyiglycerols were correlated in a positive way with some analytical indexes measuring the primary oxidation level of the oil, and in a negative way with compounds which concentration significantly decreases during the early stages of oxidation. The triacylglycerol oligopolymers, instead, were positively correlated with some parameters which allow to assess the secondary oxidative degradation of an oil, and in a negative way with some minor compounds, which level significantly decreases in oils being in advanced oxidative conditions. Therefore the determination of oxidized triacyiglycerols and triacylglycerol oligopolymers could be used as an alternative to the methods foreseen by EC regulations, thus allowing to reduce the number of analytical determinations