EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL THE NEW FRONTIERS OF THIS MYTHICAL PRODUCT
HS – HIGH STANDARD
Marcello Coronini e Flavio Zaramella
The Origin & Spread of the Olive Tree
The origin of the olive tree is lost in the mists of time. Its history and diffusion is interconnected with the Mediterranean civilizations that constitute and mark the founding imprint of western culture. The existence of the olive tree dates back to 12,000 years B.C., a fact which has been established from fossils of the plant found in Pliocene deposits at Mongardino in Italy, from remains of the Paleolithic period at Relilai in North Africa, and from pieces of oleaster and olive stones, dating back to the Bronze Age, found in excavations in Spain. The wild olive tree has its origin in Asia Minor (De Candolle 1883), from where it spread through Anatolia, into Syria, Palestine and then into Greece. Another theory (Caruso), is that the plant could originate in Lower Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, the Atlas Mountains or parts of Europe.

The Mediterranean: Cradle of the Olive Tree
The Phoenicians, in the 16th century B.C., introduced the olive tree to the Greek Islands, and then, from the 14th to the 12th century B.C., throughout the Hellenic peninsula. Its cultivation grew to such importance that in the 4th century B.C., Solon promulgated specific decrees to regulate its planting. From this period onwards, the olive tree spread throughout the entire Mediterranean Basin: from Tripoli to Tunisia, from Sicily to Southern Italy. Presta maintains that the olive tree in Italy dates back to three centuries before the fall of Troy (1,200 years B.C.). Fenestella, another Roman analyst, maintains that the first olive tree was imported during the reign of Lucio Tarquino Prisco, the Elder (616-578 B.C.), probably from Tripoli or from Gabes in Tunisia. It is certain that from this period, the cultivation of the olive tree in Italy spread quickly from the south to the north of the peninsula: from Calabria to Apulia, from Etruria (Upper Lazio, Umbria, Tuscany), as far as Liguria, the prealpine lakes and Liburnia (Istria).

The Olive Tree in Ancient Rome
The Romans, in the occupied territories of North Africa, developed a real system of olive cultivation, thanks mainly to the Berbers who knew how to graft the oleaster. They also continued to introduce the olive tree in all the other countries around the Mediterranean as a kind of peaceful arm of their conquests. About 600 B.C., it was introduced to the region around Marseilles, and then in the whole of Gaul and Sardinia. In Corsica, it is probable that it was introduced after the fall of the Roman Empire by the Genoese. In Spain, where the olive tree arrived in 1,050 B.C. with the maritime domination of the Phoenicians, its cultivation did not really develop until after the arrival of Scipio (212 B.C.) and the Roman domination (45 B.C.). In Betis, after the third Punic War, the olive plantations occupied huge areas of land. The Arabs introduced their own varieties in Southern Spain and contributed to their diffusion.

The Olive Tree in the Modern Age
With the discovery of America (1492), the olive tree spread beyond the Mediterranean. The first exemplars left from Seville for the Antilles and then later for the American continent. There were already olive groves in Mexico by 1560, then in Peru, California, Chile and Argentina, where one of the plants of the conquest still grows to this day at Arauco. The olive tree, due above all to the fame of the oil obtained from its fruit, has continued to spread wherever there are the right pedoclimatic conditions, and it is not surprising to find that in more recent times it has found favourable habitats in distant locations: in Southern Africa, Japan, China and Australia, where a number of large plantations of intensive and specialised cultivation have been established.

The Virgin Olive Oils
The virgin olive oils are the products obtained from the pressing of the fruit of the olive tree solely through mechanical or other physical procedures in particular thermal conditions that do not alter its aroma or flavour. The olives, therefore, must not undergo any treatment other than the washing, the pressing, the stirring of the paste, the separation of the solid and liquid parts through pressing, the separation of the oil from the natural olive vegetal water through centrifugation and, to finish, the decantation or filtration to eliminate impurities, vegetal residues and mucilage.
Virgin olive oils are therefore simply the oily juice of the olive fruit, and are in fact the only oils which can be consumed in their virgin state, as extracted from the fruit. For this reason, if all parts of the process are carried out at the right time and in the correct way, if the olives are fresh, sound and gathered when they have reached just the right point of maturity, then the product will possess very high nutritional values, be rich in vitamins and will have wonderful aromas and flavours that remain unaltered for a long time --- all factors which have made it the first choice, for excellence, among all the condiments.

The Chemical Composition of the Virgin Olive Oils
The so-called saponifiable part, which represents 98.5 - 99.5% of the composition of virgin olive oil, is made up of triglycerides, esters of glycerin with fatty acids, accompanied by small quantities of diglycerides, monoglycerides and free fatty acids. The glycerides predominate with fatty acids composed of 18 atoms of carbon that can unite to form single bonds (saturated fatty acids), for a single double bond (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) and also for double bonds (poly-unsaturated fatty acids). The characteristics of all the vegetable oils and their nutritional values, including the qualitative level of the said olive oil, depend to a large extent on their acidic composition, to be precise, on the proportions between the various fatty acids. In olive oil, the mono-unsaturated oleic acid is prevalent. Its quantity, like that of the other fatty acids, varies according to the territorial location of the olives, their type, degree of maturity etc.

Variability of the fatty acid limits of the olive oils
(fixed by the International Oleic Council)
Palmitic (saturated) 7.5 - 20.0%
Palmitoleic (mono-unsaturated) 0.3 - 3.5%
Stearic (saturated) 0.5 - 5.0%
Oleic (mono-unsaturated) 55.0 - 83.0%
Linoleic (poly-unsaturated) 3.5 - 21.0 %
Ñ Linolenic (poly-unsaturated) 0.0 - 1.5%
The other part of olive oil is composed of the minor components, mainly unsaponifiable.
This proportion is very small but is of the greatest importance. It contains chlorophyll that confers the green colour, and carotene that gives a reddy pigmentation. The colour of every oil is dependent on their relative quantities. There are also the volatile aromatic components that characterize the oil’s smell and taste; the polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that give it a bitter and astringent taste, firmly defining the stability of the oil with regard to its conservation and resistance to degenerative phenomena. The tocopherols may also be present in large quantities, particularly the alpha tocopherol, namely vitamin E, that possesses high antioxidant properties. Olive oil is also rich in sterols, in particular the sistosterol, and does not contain cholesterol.

The Classification of the Olive Oils
The quality and variety of the virgin olive oils depend not only on the correct procedures and timing of production, but also on the degree of ripeness of the olives, on their wholesomeness and several other factors: from their place of origin, from the type of olive, on the method of harvesting, from the type of terrain, from the altitude of the olive grove, on good farming practices and, in large part, on the ability of the olive growers and pressers to follow the various critical stages with the aim of finalizing the perfect product. This can only be achieved through an affirmed experience, high professionalism and, above all, a great sensibility. The end result will be a series of products from different geographical areas which offer a wide range of flavours of varying intensity and taste.
It is difficult for the consumer to choose to buy a product to suit his personal tastes and requirements just by looking at the information given on the label. The present international and European regulations, in fact, set rather generic standards for a single product category. The International Oleic Council, the Codex Alimentarius (a commission formed partly from the FAO and OMS) and The European Union recognize only two macrocategories of virgin olive oils which are fit for human consumption:the extra virgin and virgin.
The first group is composed of those oils that should not have any organoleptic defect (certified by sensorial analyses carried out by a tasting panel composed of a minimum of 8 tasters whose names are entered on a special public register after having obtained the appropriate professional recognition), possess a maximum level of acidity of 1%, a number of peroxides equal to or less than 20 and comply with a series of chemical parameters that only serve to verify that the product has not been mixed with seed oils. For the virgin oils, the maximum acidity level allowed is 2%, and some organoleptic defects may be present.
However, the said regulations do not fully safeguard the consumer from several common adulterations like, for example, the deodorization, the deacidification and the blending with other oils (hazelnut and sunflower). It must also be underlined that very often the low level of acidity is highlighted as an indicator of quality. It must be pointed out that the low acidity in itself does not correspond to a true sign of quality. On the contrary, it is misleading to the consumer if unaccompanied by other chemical parameters. It is therefore the case that the consumer is not even given a guarantee on the genuineness of the product, or put in a position to recognize an authentic, high quality product from an adulterated one. The regulations in force identify two other product categories fit for human consumption: olive oil and olive pomace oil.
Olive oil is derived from what the Italians refer to as olio lampante (“lamp oil”---so-called because it is inedible and in former times was used only for illumination purposes), which is treated with solvents that don’t modify the initial glycerical structure, and to which is then added an unspecified quantity of virgin oils. The olive pomace oil is composed of a blend of refined oil extracted with the solvents from the olive residues, to which is added a variable quantity of virgin oils.

Ancel Keys, The Mediterranean Diet
&
Prof. Publio Viola, The Health Benefits of Olive Oil
Professor Publio Viola, chief physician at the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome and lecturer in Social Medicine at the city’s university, wrote a special publication entitled “Olive Oil and Health”, published in 1997, in which he outlined the scientific research that has given rise to the need, in the light of new discoveries, for a re-examination of the health-nutritional values of olive oil. Back in 1957, D. M. Hegsted, with three other researchers, carried out studies that led to important findings on the relationship between food fats and arteriosclerosis. He demonstrated how there is a correlation between the different structures of the fatty acids and the increase of cholesterolemia. Adding cholesterol to coconut oil (composed mainly of saturated fatty acids), he observed that the levels of cholesterolemia increased much more than when the same quantities of cholesterol were applied to oils composed mainly of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The first findings on the connection between diet and ischemic cardiopathies came as a result of the non-systematical studies that highlighted a much higher incidence of the disease in the people of northern Europe and North America compared to the people of the Mediterranean, which could not be attributed to genetic factors. These studies became the base for systematic research with the use of a more precise statistical method. The most important of these researches was the Seven Countries Study, conducted over a ten year period by Ancel Keys, a researcher and scholar at the University of Minnesota. The study, commissioned by the U.S. Government, was conducted on 13,000 individuals in North America, Finland, Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. From this investigation, it became clear how there exists a close link between the incidence of vascular diseases and the excess of animal fats which, due to their high number of saturated fatty acids, increase the levels of plasmatic cholesterol.
In contrast, it was demonstrated how the vegetable oils, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, exercise a protective action against cholesterol and ANTIATEROGENA Subsequently, throughout the world, numerous other studies were carried out that confirmed this fact, while also coming to the conclusion that the chemical-physical structure of the fatty acids present in a diet is more important than cholesterol itself. The findings also highlighted the health benefits of the oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as corn oil, sunflower oil, grape-seed oil, safflower oil, etc, and also the harmful effects of animal fats, e.g. butter, bacon fat, lard and hidden fats contained in meats, cheeses and confectionery. At that time, olive oil, due to being rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, was considered to be merely “neutral”, since it neither increased or decreased the levels of plasmatic cholesterol. However, with regard to the haematic transport of the lipids and the turnover of cholesterol, subsequent studies have demonstrated that not all the plasmatic cholesterol is ATEROGENO, but only that which is contained in the low density lipoproteins (LDL), while the part associated with the high density lipoproteins (HDL), has a protective influence in that it eliminates cholesterol in the organism. At this point, it was understood that the “neutral” action of the monounsaturated fatty acids on the metabolism of the cholesterol had been badly interpreted for a long time, in that their consumption results in an increase in the levels of HDL cholesterol, while this does not occur with the polyunsaturated fatty acids that actually seem to lower the level. In recent decades there have been various studies that have made an important contribution to the level of awareness on the close links between diet and the pathogenesis of diseases. We have learnt how, at the root of many illnesses lies a peroxidizing mechanism caused by intermediate products of oxygen from which it is possible to defend oneself through the consumption of antioxidizing agents, but also through the limitation of the peroxidable substratum. One can see how the the aging process of the cells can be slowed down together with all the other degenerative illnesses. It has been established that the important biological role of the food fats cannot be treated separately as an issue of diet, both with regard to total calorie intake and also to the relationship with the other nutrients. In this particular field, the protective effect of olive oil has been determined on the metabolism, the arteries, the stomach, the liver and on the bile ducts. It has also been established that it helps child growth and increases life expectancy. It is clear that for an olive oil to carry out all these functions, it must certainly be an extra virgin, and better still, if it is of high standard. As Professor Viola says “if it didn’t exist, you would have to invent it.”

HS - HIGH STANDARD
The Certification of Extra Virgin Olive Oils of Superior Quality
It is the first certification of quality in the oil sector that certifies analytically the superior qualitative level of the extra virgin olive oils and introduces new scientific parameters. It makes reference to the actual product and not to the system of production. Its qualitative standards, are analized and checked in every phase.
HS guarantees, therefore, a defined and certified intrinsic quality, that takes no account of any emotive elements. It has taken on the role and the relevance of a new product category for high quality olive oils. The checks and verification of the declared properties of each oil are carried out by the CSQA — Certificazione di Qualità Agroalimentare, that is, by the only internationally recognized Italian body to certify the quality of products in the food sector.

Why HS
To offer the consumers the utmost certainty in the recognition of extra virgin olive oils with the requisites of superior quality, through the introduction of new and higher scientific parameters compared to the normal European and international standards.

The HS Guarantees
The declared quality values are guaranteed through the monitoring of the whole production process and systematic analyses of every production lot, all carried out under the supervision of the certifying body. Its value is given by the number and type of factors which are subject to evaluation and checking, as laid down in a Technical Discipline of Production. This document also stipulates the types of analyses, the forms to be completed and the strict procedures that guarantee the maximum compliance with the qualities declared. The new analytical methods introduced with the HS certification are so innovative in the nutritional and health fields, that they function as a guarantee of quality for the extra virgin olive oils of the members of the Oil Masters Corporation.
The instrumental analyses are carried out by university laboratories and the organoleptic evaluations are realized by internationally recognized professional panels. Inspectors draw samples from every lot which is sealed until the moment of verification of the conformity of the product. The numerical checking of the bottles is guaranteed by a special bottling register, in which note is made of the prepared lots and the serial numbers of the progressively-numbered seals of guarantee which are applied to each bottle.

HS Qualitative Parameters
Before going into detail, in order to understand the importance of the HS - High Standard certification, it must be remembered that fats in general, contrary to what is commonly believed, are essential for life, just like other principle nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral salts and water.
As well as providing energy, they have important functions as constituents of the phospholipids, elments found in the cellular membranes of all the tissues, and of the lipoproteins which are transported in the blood stream and help to develop some types of hormones. They are also necessary for the absorption of some vitamins, called liposolubles (A, D, E, K), and help to make some types of food more appetizing. In addition, some polyunsaturated fats are vital for the human organism which is unable to synthesize them. That is why these elements (linoleic and linolenic), are defined essential fatty acids. The human body's daily requirement of fats is estimated at 25-30% of the overall total calorie intake. Higher levels are not well tolerated by the human organism, but lower levels of fat intake are often associated with a reduction of high density lipoproteins (HDL), that are important as a regulator of the level of cholesterol.
Mention has already been made of the biological significance and of the value of fats that are linked to the nature of the acids that constitute the triglycerides, and to the presence of important microelements, among which are the antioxidants (tocopherols, phenolic groups and carotenoids), coloured and aromatic substances, as well as phospholipids, hydrocarbons like squalene, terpenic alchohols and sterols.
The problem of regulating the level of lipids in the organism must not be considered with respect to the neutral fats (triglycerides), but with regard to the different characteristics of the various types of fatty acids whose properties are fundamental for the equilibrium of the lipidic and non-lipidic metabolism.
The HS - High Standard oils possess the highest levels of the forementioned values, including superior organoleptic and sensorial characteristics.

HS Sensorial Characteristics
Extra virgin olive oil is a condiment, acknowledged to be the best; therefore it must give taste to foods and make them more appetizing: in other words, it must improve the gastronomic quality of food preparations. All the HS oils, therefore, must be characterized by a certified high organoleptic quality. Every HS oil must therefore obtain a vote of excellence in the panel test that will be much higher than that required by the official marketing qualification. The consumer, in the vast range of HS products, can therefore choose those which, for attributes and strength, satisfy his taste and combine best with different foods.

HS Nutritional Requirements
Olive oil is considered to be the best among all the fats, particularly for its acidic composition. The HS oils are particularly well balanced in these important elements. The oleic acid content (monounsaturate), the most physiological for the human being and widely present in our cells, is guaranteed in a minimum quantity of 70%. The international regulations require at least 55%, while the European regulations don’t even take into consideration this imprtant indicator of quality. Also, with regard to the linoleic acid (polyunsaturate), the same legislation does not even consider its presence. Considering that the presence of this acid is essential for a healthy diet, at a level of at least 5%, but that a percentage over 12% can cause harmful effects on the organism, the HS certification has been conceived to guarantee the presence of these fundamental components within the aforesaid levels. For the linolenic acid (polyunsaturated with three double links), a maximum of 0.9% has been set, since higher levels would cause serious “oxidative stress”. At this point, it is opportune to remind the reader that though “essential”, the polyunsaturated acids must be consumed in clearly defined limited quantities, in that scientific research has proved that high doses accelerate the cell oxidative process, giving rise to serious illnesses.
Scientific research indicates a maximum level of 10% of polyunsaturates for the quota of lipids in the calorie count of the diet. It is necessary to point out, as epidemiologically proven, that a diet with an excess of polyunsaturates causes a 30% increase in deaths for non-vascular motives, among which, an increase in tumours in general and in particular of the breast, prostate and colon.
Another required parameter of the HS Discipline is the low level of free acidity (less than 5%), that, as mentioned above, becomes important when taken into consideration with other significant values.

HS Health Requirements and the Oxidative Chain Breaking Activity of Prof. Lanfranco Conte
The HS oils must have a high concentration of so-called “unsaponifiable”substances with a high content of antioxidants. They preserve the quality and the duration of the product while also having a strong anti-aging action, as well as other important beneficial functions, such as the prevention of serious diseases, including tumours. The official regulations do not consider the measurement of these substances. The HS certification not only takes it into consideration, but imposes a high level.
Thanks to the innovative method, oxidative chain breaking activity, perfected by Prof. L. Conte, lecturer in food chemistry at the University of Udine, and co-ordinator of the experts in this field of the European Union, it is possible for the first time to measure precisely the antioxidizing capacity of fats.
This particular characteristic is measured in an equivalent quantity of vitamin E. On average, the HS oils possess the equivalent of 1 gram of pure vitamin E for every 1000/1600 grams of oil.
Therefore, people who regularly use HS extra virgin olive oils will be certain to consume the required intake of vitamin E and therefore prevent serious illnesses, including heart attacks and brain haemorrhages.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that this vitamin has recently been used with extraordinary success in therapeutic treatments. In fact, at the Istituto Umberto I in Rome, in April 2000, 12 patients were cured of the forementioned diseases through the administration of this powerful, natural antioxidant directly into the arteries for a period of 30 days. The details of this case have been published in the well-known American magazine, Circulation.

Who Has Promoted HS
The certification HS — High Standard has been promoted, after two years of study and preparation, by the Consortium Oil Masters Corporation, the operative arm of the Corporazione dei Mastri Oleari ONLUS (a non-profit making organization of Social Benefit), with the collaboration of well known experts and researchers.
The Oil Masters Corporation is the prestigious association of producers and experts in the oleic field that draws its name and symbol from an ancient guild of arts and crafts of the 12th century.
The Corporation, for more than 16 years, is involved in the diffusion of the culture of this sector, with the aim of improving the quality of the products and the professionalism of the producers, and regularly supplies precise information to the media and consumers.