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The geography that is now Turkey has produced olives and their oil for millennia, but major changes in the industry have been underway in the last decade, with many producers now focusing on quality over quantity. Based on fieldwork with olive oil producers, harvesters, laboratory technicians, equipment engineers, and others in the industry, this article describes this ‘‘quality turn,’’ what is driving it, who is involved in it, how it unfolds, and what its effects are. Some of the players involved in producing olive oil in Turkey for decades or longer have witnessed important generational changes, including more women entering the sector and technological innovation. Prominent roles are now played by laboratories and tasting competitions, involving the recalibration of human sense perceptions on the part of producers (and, more slowly, consumers) to be commensurate with international standards for defining target aroma profiles in olive oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the development of olive oil production and trade, analyze the competitiveness, and develop recommendations to increase competition. Although world olive oil production has followed a fluctuating course in the last two decades, it has been determined to be in an increasing trend. Approximately 3.3 million tons of olive oil are produced in the world every year. Türkiye ranks fifth in world olive oil production with a share of 7.12%. Although Türkiye's olive oil production has been increasing over the years, there are approximately 200-250 thousand tons of products every year. In 2021, world olive oil exports amounted to 8.58 billion dollars and imports to 8.75 billion dollars. Türkiye ranks sixth in the world regarding the amount and value of olive oil exports. Türkiye's olive oil export market is concentrated in the United States of America (USA) and European Union (EU) countries. In 2021, Türkiye's olive oil exports were 27.98% to the USA and 20.63% to EU countries. In the study, the competitiveness analysis of olive oil was calculated for the years 2010-2021, and Balassa's Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA), Vollrath's Relative Export Advantage Index (RXA), and Laursen's Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage Index (RSCA) were used in the analysis. The average index values obtained for Türkiye are calculated as 2.06 for RCA, 2.09 for RXA, and 0.278 for RSCA. It was determined that although Türkiye's competitiveness in olive oil exports is at a low level, it has the potential to compete with rival countries. In the study, some suggestions were developed for Türkiye to increase its competitiveness. The main recommendations are to improve the quality of olive oil production by differentiating it through tools such as geographical indication registration and to liberalize trade by removing practices that restrict foreign trade (such as quotas and taxes) through agreements between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, trace element contents and stable carbon isotope ratios of olive oils were determined to evaluate their potential as authentication parameters. Forty-nine virgin olive oil samples (VOOs) from six different locations of the western part of Turkey (İzmir, Manisa, Aydın, Muğla, Bursa and Edremit Bay) were analysed with ICP-MS and EA-IRMS. V, Mn, Ni, Cu, Ba, Na, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, Pb, As, Co, Cr and Zn were found in the olive oil samples and determined δC stable istope ratios. Data from the olive oil samples were compiled and classified with chemometric approach. The results showed that there is significant potential to successfully authenticate olive oils according to Fe and Zn on the Manisa and δC have dominant effect on the location of Edremit Bay. As a result, the outcome of this study could be used to identify the geographical origin of olive oils especially for the Manisa and Edremit Bay locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterization of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in extra virgin, virgin, second centrifugation, lampante, refined, crude olive pomace, and refined olive pomace oils was carried out in 24 different types of olive oils and seven different types of pomace oils produced in Turkey and Spain. The extraction method was followed by liquid-liquid extraction, a solid phase clean up using C18 and Florisil cartridges, and evaporation. Then the evaporated residue dissolved in tetrahydrofuran/methanol 50:50 v/v, was analyzed by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector using two excitations (280, 256 nm) and emission (410, 446 nm) wavelenghts channels. PAHs content of crude and refined olive pomace oils were found higher than in the other oils. In the samples analyzed, the highest concentrations of PAHs corresponded to benzo[ ghi]perylene, naphthalene, pyrene, acenaphthene, benzo[ k]fluoranthene, and phenanthrene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, 14 hybrid table olive genotypes were used as material which were harvested from Olive Breeding Parcels in Atatürk Central Horticultural Research Institute (Yalova/TURKEY) and their maturation index, oil content, fatty acid composition and omega-6:omega-3 fatty acid ratio were evaluated. These genotypes were generated by crossing Gemlik, Manzanilla, Ascolana, Edinciksu, Uslu, and Tavşan yüreği olive cultivars during cross breeding studies of a national project. Oil was obtained from fruit of olive genotypes by cold pressing. Maturation index and oil content of genotypes were determined between 2.6-6.4 and 22.43-28.12 (%). Linolenic acid distributions in fatty acid composition of genotype's oil were detected between 0.5-1.33 (% in fatty acids). Some olive genotypes' oils had high linolenic characteristics that they have potential for supporting the necessary intake of omega-3. Also, some of them have had the desired omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio which were between 3.74 and 4.00. Practical applications: Olive oil is a traditional product of Mediterranean basin and commonly consumed all over the world. But there is a need to improve yield, quality and nutritional value of olive oil. For this reason, there breeding studies were conducted. One of them was carried out in Ataturk Central Horticultural Research Institute. Here domestic and foreign olive cultivars were crossed to generate new olive genotypes since 1990. This research aimed to determine the olive oil of these obtained olive genotypes which had higher oil and omega-3 content and lower omega-6:omega-3 fatty acid ratio. Generating the high omega-3 content olive oil by cross breeding is one of the cheapest, simplest and most natural ways of obtaining omega-3 and delivering it to the consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, important physicochemical properties, fatty acid and sterol compositions of olive oils from the olives which harvested from Mersin (Buyuk Topak Ulak, Gemlik, Sari Ulak), Adana (Gemlik), Osmaniye (Gemlik) and Hatay (Gemlik, Kargaburun, Hasebi, Halhali) in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey have been investigated. Ripening index and oil yield analysis of the olives and free fatty acids, peroxide value, UV absorbance (K 232 , K 270 ), fatty acid composition, sterol composition, erythrodiol+uvaol content, and total sterol analysis of the olive oil samples were carried out. The levels of free acidity in the olive oil samples ranged from 0.39% (Hatay Gemlik: HG3) to 2.23% (Mersin Gemlik: MG). Peroxide value ranged from 8.87 to 18.87 meq O 2 /kg. As K 232 values in the oils fluctuated between 1.4370 and 2.3970, K 270 values varied between 0.1270 and 0.1990. The results showed that all ΔK values were lower than the maximum legal limit of 0.01. The main fatty acid in all oil samples was oleic acid, ranging from 58.72% (Hatay Hasebi: HHs) to 74.54% (Hatay Gemlik: HG2). Palmitic acid values were within the percentage of 12.83% (Hatay Kargaburun: HK) to 18.50% (HHs). Total sterol content varied from 720.41 mg/kg (Hatay Kargaburun: HK) to 4519.17 mg/kg (Buyuk Topak Ulak: BTU). The β-sitosterol percentage of olive oils ranged from 76.12% (Adana Gemlik: AG) to 94.23% (Buyuk Topak Ulak: BTU). The results of this study indicated that variety significantly affect the quality indices, fatty acid and sterol compositions of olive oils significantly varied among varieties.

In this study virgin olive oil obtained from cv. Nizip Yaglik (NY) was adulterated with different proportions (5 and 10%, v/v) of cotton (CO) and sunflower (SO) oils. Fatty acid and sterol profiles of olive oil were analyzed by using gas chromatography (GC). Also, difference of Equivalent Carbon Number 42 values (ΔECN42) of oil samples were determined by using GC and HPLC. Due to results of fatty acids analysis, the percentage of oleic acid was decreased when CO and SO were added. Palmitic acid was increased over the addition of CO, and decreased with the addition of SO. The ΔECN42 values were increased in adulterated oils. These values showed further increase in adulterated oils with SO. Beta-sitosterols decreased to 91.06 and 88.54% when mixed with 5 and 10% SO, respectively. On the other hand, decline was negligible when mixed with CO. According to principal component analyses (PCA), pure NY and adulterated oils were clearly separated in different parts of screen plot according to fatty acids, triacylglycerol (TAGs) and sterol profile. The outcomes of this first investigation provide valuable information for about the differences of fatty acids, ΔECN42 values and sterol compounds between Turkish olive oil from Nizip Yaglik cv. and its adulteration with cotton and sunflower oil. It was observed that fatty acids are not very effective in detecting adulteration of NY oil, but ΔECN values, sterols and Rmar values can be used to detect adulteration of NY olive oil.