Table olives are a common and well-known food in the whole Mediterranean area, produced and consumed in great quantities. Many deepgreen olives can be found on sale in the South of Italy. Sometimes a deep color could be the result of the fraudulent addition of a coloring agent (E141ii, copper chlorophyllins) during the pickling process, in spite of the European Union legislation that does not allow the addition of any colorant to fruits included table olives. The objectives of this study were to use a relatively simple method of detection of E141ii added to table olives, to verify the presence on the Italian market of artificially colored table olives, and to show that also CuSO4 can be employed for table olive re-greening. Compounds with chromatographic and spectral characteristics similar to the ones from the E141ii (Cu chlorin e6, Cu isochlorin e4, Cu pyropheophorbide a) were found in 8 samples out of 16. These results show that the fraudulent addition of colorant to table olives is a quite common practice. More pressing controls and analysis are required to ensure the complete food safety and the compliance with the current law.
Detection of not allowed food-coloring additives (Copper chlorophyllin, coppersulphate) in green table olives sold on the italian market
Negro, C.
;De Bellis, L.;Sabella, E.;Nutricati, E.;Luvisi, A.;Miceli, A.
2017-01-01
Abstract
Table olives are a common and well-known food in the whole Mediterranean area, produced and consumed in great quantities. Many deepgreen olives can be found on sale in the South of Italy. Sometimes a deep color could be the result of the fraudulent addition of a coloring agent (E141ii, copper chlorophyllins) during the pickling process, in spite of the European Union legislation that does not allow the addition of any colorant to fruits included table olives. The objectives of this study were to use a relatively simple method of detection of E141ii added to table olives, to verify the presence on the Italian market of artificially colored table olives, and to show that also CuSO4 can be employed for table olive re-greening. Compounds with chromatographic and spectral characteristics similar to the ones from the E141ii (Cu chlorin e6, Cu isochlorin e4, Cu pyropheophorbide a) were found in 8 samples out of 16. These results show that the fraudulent addition of colorant to table olives is a quite common practice. More pressing controls and analysis are required to ensure the complete food safety and the compliance with the current law.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
