A kinetic method to evaluate the effect of environmental variability on the quality of an extra virgin olive oil

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the thermoxidative kinetics of an extra virgin olive oil produced in the same farm during two different crop seasons in order to put in evidence the effect induced on these phenomena, and then also on a fundamental aspect of oil quality, by the only environmental variability. All the results obtained in this experimental work appear to confirm how the oil obtained during the first crop year tested was more resistant to oxidation than that obtained in the following year. In fact, the values assumed by the kinetic constant related to the first order kinetic equation used to describe the decreases of fatty acid concentrations in the oil sample appear always lower in comparison with data obtained for the same fatty acid in the first than in the second crop year. This underlines the fundamental role played by environmental variability to determine the characteristics of the oil produced.