NIROLEO Operational Group: Innovation in olive oil quality control in oil mills through the use of NIRS sensors

The main reason for this approach is based on the possibility of obtaining samples from at least two different production campaigns, which will make it possible to increase the variability of the olive oil sample population in its different commercial categories analyzed and, therefore, the generalization capacity of the developed predictive models.

The methodological foundations for collecting highly variable olive oil samples will be established. 600 product samples will be taken over the course of the two-year project. The corresponding physical, chemical, and organoleptic analyses will be performed, reinforcing the panel test results on 30% of the samples analyzed, necessitating the development of two tasting panels. Once the results are analyzed, calibration equations will be developed for predicting physicochemical and organoleptic parameters in olive oil using linear regression methods. The best models will be validated and included in the results report, for which training and outreach activities will be conducted among the agroindustry, the scientific community, and any operator interested in this technology.