Innovative technique combining laser irradiation effect and electronic nose for determination of organoleptic olive oil characteristics

K. PIERPAULI; C. RINALDI; M. L. AZCARATE; A. LAMAGNA

Olive Oil - Constituents, Quality, Health Properties and Bioconversions.

InTech - Open Access Publisher

Año: 2011;

Olive oil has a characteristic flavor that distinguishes it from other edible vegetable oils. Its quality depends on the aroma, taste and colour, which in turn depend on many variables including location. Odour is an important parameter determining the sensory quality of olive oils and it is therefore of interest to investigate if volatile compounds contributing to the characteristic odour can be measured. The olive oil industry needs a rapid assessment of the level of oil oxidation in order to predict its shelf-life. Therefore, the development of innovative analytical tools for quick and reliable quality checks on extra virgin olive oil is required. The use of an electronic nose for quality evaluation as a means of olfactory sensing is becoming widespread due to its advantages of low cost, reliability and high portability. Electronic noses based on different sensor technologies and using different recognition schemes have been employed for this task. Laser vaporization (LV) produces a local heating of the irradiated liquid surface allowing a large amount of vapour to be generated in a short time period. In the present work the results of experiments carried out to illustrate the use of the combined techniques of electronic nose and pulsed or continuous wave laser irradiation for olive oil quality determination are reported.