ASSAM and IBE-CNR have created and are managing a database of chemical and sensory profiles of extra virgin oils participating in the Italian National Review of Monovarietalolive oils. This dynamic database includes a large number of observations for each monovarietal oil, and can allow for ongoing updates every year, thus providing more accurate chemical and sensory average data for the oils. For each monocultivar oil, chemical and sensory profiles were calculated and described, including a large number of oil samples fromdifferent regions. The Review reached its 18th edition as of 2004, and the large number of oil samples hasled to improvements in results, in turn diminishing the effect of the main variables which have a significant influence on the quality of the oil: seasonality, ripening and differentmilling technologies.
Sensory analysis was laid out by the “ASSAM – Marche Panel” as recognized by the IOOC (International Olive Oil Council) and the Italian Ministry for Agriculture, Food and ForestryPolicy under the conditions described in EC Reg. 640/2008. The 150 samples collected during the first and the second year (edition 2004-2005) were used to identify the specific descriptors for the sensory analyses of monovarietal extra virgin olive oil and to set up the relative profile sheet. Each panellist smelled and tasted the oil, in order to analyse olfactory, gustatory, tactile andkinaesthetic characteristics. Thirteen attributes were evaluated: 9 during the olfactory phase (olive fruity, olive fresh leaf, grass, fresh almond, artichoke, tomato, apple, berries and aromatic herbs) and 4 during the gustatory phase (olive fruity, bitter, pungent and fluidity). Attributes were assessed on an oriented 10-cm line scale and quantified measuring the locationof the mark from the origin. Data obtained for the 13 descriptors were used to define thesensory profile of each sample using the median values. Fatty acid composition, determined according to Reg. EC Reg.796/2002 methodology, and total phenolic content determined according to the Folin-Ciocalteu spectrophotometric method expressed as milligrams of gallic acid per kilogram of oil, were determined by Centro Agrochimico ASSAM, Jesi (AN). Chemical and sensory data were statistically analyzed. Explorative analysis and descriptive statistics were performed for each set of data in order to identify outliers, extreme observations and to obtain distributional properties of the data. Descriptive measures (moments, basic measures of location and variability, confidence intervals for the mean, standard deviation, and variance) of chemical and sensory variables were calculated for each monovarietal oil. Currently, the database includes more then 3600 oils produced from 190 different cultivars from 18 Italian regions. Nutritional properties, expressed as fatty acid and total phenol content, and the sensory profiles of each Italian monovarietal oil were published in the Catalogue of Italian Monovarietal oils and at https://www.olimonovarietali.it/en/