OLEUM Technical project meeting hosted in Seville, Spain

On 23 -24 February 2017, OLEUM partners joined a technical project meeting hosted by the Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC) in Seville Spain.

After a welcome from the Instituto de la Grasa’s Director, the first day of the meeting began with the discussion of the project state of play and advancements about sampling procedure and analytical solutions related to olive oil quality and authenticity issues, presented by Prof. Tullia Gallina Toschi from University of Bologna (OLEUM Scientific coordinator) and Dr. Diego García Gonzalez from CSIC. Prof. Lanfranco Conte, from University of Udine, presented the next deliverable currently under preparation that is about the regulatory framework analysis, update and implementation. The progress on networking and technology transfer was discussed by Dr. Paul Brereton from Fera Science Ltd. To conclude, three parallel working groups were established to discuss and to focus on all the pending issues related to the current research activities.

On Day 2, Dr. Paul Brereton from Fera Science Ltd. led a discussion about the progress and next steps towards establishing the OLEUM Network, which will enable technical discussions and technology transfer of new methods and procedures and to foster laboratory proficiency and harmonization on a global scale. Progress on the development of the OLEUM Databank, an online integrated quality assurance database of olive oil analytical methods and data related to chemical and organoleptic characteristics, was presented by Dr. Alain Maquet of the European Commission Joint Research Centre.

The meeting finished with a tour of the Instituto de la Grasa analytical laboratories and pilot olive oil production line.

Old vs. new. A traditional olive mill from the 1950’s (left) and a modern olive oil pilot production line (right), which integrates all the steps in the olive oil production process (milling, centrifugation, filtration).

The laboratory for organoleptic assessment of edible oils contains individual booths for each member of the sensory panel. OLEUM aims to enhance the sensory panel performance by improving sensibility and discriminant capacity with the development and the adoption of formulated reference materials (RMs).

The next project meeting will be held in Thessaloniki on 4-5 October 2017 and the Advisory Board members will be invited and involved in a specific discussion session on the OLEUM advancements.

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