Application of thermal and physical techniques for olive oil adulteration and authenticity

The application of the thermal and physical techniques for the assessment of EVOO adulteration and authenticity, are deeply discussed in this chapter. These analytical techniques do not require time-consuming manipulation, sample treatment and the use of hazardous solvents, thus exhibiting undeniable advantages from the high sample turnover, automation feasibility and environmental standpoints. If coupled to appropriate chemiometric techniques, their analytical selectivity and performance could be further enhanced, thus representing a powerful tool to discriminate olive oils according to their quality, authenticity, geographical origin and cultivar. However, due to the expansion and competitiveness of the global olive oil market. there is a need of developing new and improving already existing analytical methods for detecting fraud and ensuring quality of EVOO, with better efficiency, standardization and harmonization. Since Europe is currently the largest producer of olive oil in the world, these analytical and methodological aspects have become of outmost importance for the European Union. In fact, to be able to efficiently combat against olive oil adulteration, the EU Commision has recently financed an H2020 project (OLEUM, http://www.oleumproject.eu/), whose overall objective is to better guarantee olive oil quality and authenticity by empowering detection and fostering prevention of olive oil fraud, with the ultimate goal of boosting consumer confidence and enhancing the competitiveness of the EU olive oil market.