Survey of the healthy components of thirty marketed extra virgin olive oils from the province of Cosenza (Calabria, Italy)

Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 38: e188678, doi: 10.3897/ejfa.2026.188678

Marianna Rizzo^‡, Enzo Perri^‡, Luca Lombardo^‡

‡ Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Rende, Italy

Corresponding author: Marianna Rizzo ( marianna.rizzo@crea.gov.it )

Academic editor: Angelo Maria Giuffrè

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Rizzo M, Perri E, Lombardo L (2026) Survey of the healthy components of thirty marketed extra virgin olive oils from the province of Cosenza (Calabria, Italy). Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 38: e188678. https://doi.org/10.3897/ejfa.2026.188678

Abstract

The Calabria region, in southern Italy, is one of the main olive-growing areas of the country. In particular, 4.35% of the national olive acreage is cultivated in the province of Cosenza, but the recognition of its olive oils is rather marginal due to historical economic and production problems like poor technological/economic development and land fragmentation. The aim of this study was to evaluate fatty acid composition and total phenolic and tocopherol content in commercial bottled extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) produced in 19 localities of the province of Cosenza, in order to obtain an updated picture of the nutritional and functional quality of the oils available on the market. Thirty samples, including single-variety and blended oils, were analysed. The results showed a certain variability among samples: phenolic contents ranged from 395.53 to 823.54 mg/kg of tyrosol equivalent, while tocopherols ranged from 238.74 to 487.95 mg/kg. No significant differences emerged between single-variety and blended oils. The results confirm the high nutritional value of Calabrian EVOOs and underscore the importance of promoting high-quality local production for a sustainable development of the sector in the next few years.

Keywords

Extra virgin olive oil, fatty acid composition, market survey, phenolic compounds, tocopherols