Profiles of volatile compounds from some monovarietal Tunisian virgin olive oils. Comparison with French PDO

The volatile profiles of seven Tunisian and four French virgin olive oils were established by solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) and gas chromatography (GC), using flame ionisation and mass spectrometer detectors. Eighty-six compounds were identified and characterized, representing 97.4–99.9% of the total GC area. (E)-2-hexenal, the main compound extracted by SPME, characterized the olive oil headspace for approximately 90% of the oils examined. Significant differences in the proportions of volatile constituents from oils of different varieties were detected. The results demonstrated that the accumulation of the different metabolites in the oils obtained from the various cultivars was strictly connected with the varietal parameters on the basis of the enzyme differences genetically determined. This feature made possible the differentiation of the examined cultivars on the basis of the percent of each metabolite.