Study of oils from Calabrian olive cultivars by chemometric methods

A study of characterisation of a typical Italian food is performed by chemometrics. The olive oils from some cultivars of Calabria have been characterised according to their origin and olive genotype using the chemical information mainly provided by 14 chemical parameters of virgin olive oils. In particular, the models of three cultivars of Calabria (Carolea, Cassanese, Dolce di Rossano) were deeply studied. The microclimate of this region has a lower influence on fatty acid composition than the genotype. Using simple and relatively inexpensive analytical parameters as fatty acids and chemometric techniques it has been possible to characterise and classify the olive oils (60–94% prediction rate).