LOCATION EFFECTS ON OXIDATIVE STABILITY OF CHÉTOUI VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

The effect of growing area on the natural antioxidant and oxidative stability of Chetoui virgin olive oil was studied. Total phenolic content, tocopherol composition, fatty acid composition and oxidative stability were analyzed. The results obtained in this study showed that Chetoui virgin olive oil composition is greatly influenced by growing environment, i.e., mainly by the climatic and pedologic factors. The cumulative rainfall appears to have a major influence on phenolic and o-diphenol content. Among studied samples, Amdoun oil had the highest total phenolic content, which exceeded 700 mg/kg. Moreover, it contained the highest amounts of o-diphenols 286.08 ± 6.74 mg/kg and total tocopherols 405.65 ± 4.17 mg/kg. The amounts of total phenols and o-diphenols showed a good correlation (P ≤ 0.001) with stability while tocopherols showed a very low relation to oxidative stability.