Simone Pucci

The 2018/2019 oil campaign can now be considered concluded for this year and, as in other years, we are able to comment on the results of the analyses carried out on a few dozen samples from various areas of Tuscany. Furthermore we have carried out a small study to learn more about determination of the appropriate harvesting period in the case of a heterogeneous olive grove that has several cultivars.

The beginning of the season was rightly perturbed by forecasts of reduced production which came true. In particular, in a few central Italian region, productivity was very low, whereas at a national level, production was below average, despite being slightly up compared to the previous oil production season. What about quality?

A low productivity and high quality of the oil have been foreseen at the launch of the 2017 oil season. In the chemical laboratories of CDR we started to analyze the oil samples of the 2017 season. We see the first results of the analysis of the oil. Are the forecasts respected?

The characteristics of ingredients are fundamental in olive oil production. The olive pressing process also plays a key role in determining a high quality product such as extra virgin olive oil. We will examine how it is possible to increase the quality of extra virgin olive oil produced, by constantly monitoring certain chemical parameters, while providing descriptions of detection methods used.

Snack foods are currently consumed by millions of people of diverse cultural backgrounds in many countries because they are tempting snacks if characterized by crispness, brilliant colour and flavours.

However, these products can undergo degradation processes, first of all, the lipid oxidation which causes rancidity and off- flavours.

There are several methods to test the shelf life of snacks and bakery foods, but CDR FoodLab® is the only one, not only to be a green method, but also, it is able to give an actual measurement of oxidative stability of finished products, in a simple and fast way.

Comparison between different methods

An analysis of Tuscan oil quality in 2016. In particular, the influence of climate and the milling plant was studied using the results of chemical analyses carried out at CDR laboratories, using the CDR OxiTester analysis system.

Dr. Simone Bellassai presented the speech “Innovative At-Line Quality and Process Control Methods in Food&Beverage Industry” at the 2nd IMEKO FOODS “Metrology Promoting Objective and Measurable Food Quality and Safety” in Benevento. See the slide show»

Since the 2015 oil campaign is over, it is time for the CDR chemical laboratory to take stock and examine its tests. Have the expectations in terms of productivity and quality been met?

The quality of the olive oil produced this year is much lower than the average of the past years. Our R&D laboratory made its annual analytical study of some samples of olive oil produced in Tuscany. Here you can read all the data and the result of the analysis and find a correlation between the quality parameters and summer rainfalls.

Simone Pucci, Head of the R&D Chemical Laboratory, who wrote about the analytical needs of the fish oil industry and about the chemical analysis methods applied to the fish oil processing and quality control.