Olive zoning: analysis of environmental: influences on monovarietal olive oils(Bosana cultivar)

The characterization and differentiation of olive oil high-quality production play a key role in ensuring adequate levels of income for workers in the sector and to reward the merchandise, sensory, and health quality aspects. Furthermore, the development and implementation of new tools and methodologies is more and more required by the European Community in a framework of food security.In this context, the main aim of the thesis is to explore the relationships between the environment factors and the virgin olive oils (EVOO) composition and microbiological quality in the double perspective of characterization and food safety, in order to increase and disseminate knowledge among consumers and operators in the olive oil chain. The EVOO productions deriving from the most widespread cultivar in Sardinia (Italy) were characterized and differentiated in terms of chemical components on the basis of their growing area, and the influence of environmental factors on oil quality was explored through NMR spectroscopy integrated with multivariate statistic and Geographic Information System. Then, microbial species were isolated, selected, and identified in EVOO products.The results (i) showed the potential of the proposed methodology for the construction of flexible and scalable chemometric models suitable to be applied for the zoning and protection of valuable products; and (ii) encouraged more studies and researches to clarify the role played by microbiological components.