Impact of Growing Area and Technological Aspects on Lebanese Olive Oil: Characterization by Unsupervised Methods

The influence of growing-area and technological aspects on the Lebanese Soury variety is presented. The pedoclimatic conditions, quality parameters, and fatty acids of oil samples were examined using chemometric tools to demonstrate the typicality of Lebanese olive oil. Furthermore, the effect of several technological factors on olive oil quality was studied. Accordingly, olive oil samples were collected across Lebanon corresponding to two climatic zones (Zone A: Low-altitude regions; Zone B: High-altitude regions). Principal component analysis was capable of discriminating the two zones with distinct fatty acid profiles. Zone A exhibited a fatty acid profile mostly dominated by linoleic, linolenic, palmitic, and palmitoleic acid content. As for zone B, it showed a unique fatty acid profile distinguished by oleic acid. These results are mostly attributed to the climatic effect and the altitude of the growing area. Moreover, independent component analysis, coupled to one-way ANOVA, demonstrated that significant differences (p<0.05) were found in quality indices (acidity and peroxide value) as well as fatty acid contents (oleic and linoleic acid) when comparing uncontrolled to controlled extraction methods. This study provides a baseline for future intensive characterization of Lebanese olive oil and detects the non-compliances attributed to the disqualification of olive oil virginity.