Sterol and alcohol composition of Cornicabra virgin olive oil: the campesterol content exceeds the upper limit of 4% established by EU regulations

The sterol and alcohol composition of Cornicabra virgin olive oil during the crop seasons from 1997/1998 to 2001/2002 (n=334) are reported. The median value of campesterol was 4.0% and ranged from 3.4 to 4.5% in the five crop seasons studied, indicating that high natural content is a peculiar characteristic of the Cornicabra virgin olive oil. Consequently, a large proportion (between 25 and 85%) of the annual production of this commercial monovarietal virgin olive oil exceeds the upper limit established by the current EU legislation. Also, sterols and alcohols are identified as highly useful compounds for chemical authentication of the main Spanish virgin olive oil varieties, in which campesterol presented the highest ANOVA F-ratio.