Evaluation of Functional Phytochemicals in Destoned Virgin Olive Oil

Processing destoned olives by means of extracting adjuvants micronised food talc and depolymerising Cytolase 0 enzyme complex have been studied in the present work. This innovative processing technology increased the plant efficiency (amounts of olives processed per hour) by 20%, as well as the nutritional quality of the end product with respect to functional compounds. The oils showed higher contents of biophenols, aromas, and tocopherols. An intense and balanced flavor and a potentially higher stability and endurance to oxidation (shelf-life) was found. Contents of chloroplast pigments (chlorophylls, pheophytins, carotenes, and xanthophylls) appeared to be lower in comparison to conventional processing. The processing aids allowed to increase significantly the oil yields and to reduce the oil percentage in the byproducts. Traceability of the new products was still possible applying chemometric data analysis for discriminating between cultivars.