Olives and Olive Oil - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 496

previously adjusted to a maximum value of 4.3. Such prepa-
rations have different names in different producing coun-
tries. In the United States, where they are widely consumed,
they are known as green ripe olives; in Italy, Castelvetrano;
in France, Picholine; andinSpain, Campo Real.

sentation. It also defines quality factors for both fruit and
brine, and the product's trade classification according to the
significance of the olive defects. In addition it establishes
the health, packing, labeling, and analysis method guide-
lines set forth by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The
Codex Alimentarius Standard for table olives (1981) pre-
scribes the essential quality criteria and indicates the min-
imum tolerance levels for defects according to the type of
olive established by the IOC. However, some producing or
importing countries have their own codes and specific regu-
lations that must be taken into account (Garrido-Fernandez
and Romero-Barranco, 1999). There are separate guide-
lines for green olives (USDA, 1967) and ripe olives (green
and black) (USDA, 1983) in the United States.

Innovative processing technologies
Most of the current studies on the elaboration of table olives
are aimed at reducing the length of time involved in the pro-
cess and decreasing or eliminating the use of NaOH in that
process. Servili et al. (2006) showed that the use of Lacto-
bacillus pentosus 1MO as a starter to ferment natural black
olives, reduced the debittering time to 8 days. Posthar-
vest treatment of green olives under a CO 2 atmosphere,
for a period of 12 days, may be used as an alternative,
chemical-free means of table olive debittering (Dourtoglou
et al., 2006). Likewise, Garcıa et al. (2008) described a
new method of debittering green olives preserved in acidi-
fied brine by subjecting them to an overpressure of oxygen
or air for 1-3 days. With this system, a new product with
different color and texture from the traditional table olives
was achieved. The reuse of ozonated alkaline solutions as
fermentation brines in Spanish green table olives led to
a shorter lag phase and a good quality of the final prod-
uct (Segovia-Bravo et al., 2007). High hydrostatic pressure
(HHP) can be used in the olive industry as nonthermal
preservation (Toku¸oglu et al., 2010).

Sensory characteristics
Table olives are highly valued by consumers because of
their flavor, color, and texture. These attributes are among
the main sensory characteristics which best reflect the qual-
ity of vegetable products. In general, all standards require
that the color and texture be appropriate for the type of table
olive in question.
The color changes that fruits undergo during process-
ing are due to the transformation of their pigments. Color
is one of the sensory characteristics most changed dur-
ing Spanish-style green olive processing. The chlorophylls
(“a” and” “b”) initially present in the fresh fruit (Mınguez-
Mosquera and Garrido-Fernandez, 1989) are totally de-
graded to pheophytins and pheophorbides (with grey-brown
color), as consequence of the acidity generated during the
lactic fermentation (Mınguez-Mosquera et al., 1989, 1994).
Certain innovations have been introduced to the traditional
system of Spanish-style processing (reusing brine and al-
kaline solutions, adding acids, eliminating short washes,
etc.), which, to some extent, have modified the mecha-
nism of chlorophyll degradation, which results in a higher
number of derivatives, with the detection of oxidative reac-
tions that affect the chlorophyll isocyclic ring and produc-
tion of allomerized chlorophylls (Mınguez-Mosquera and
Gallardo-Guerrero, 1995). Only the carotenoid pigment
fraction is affected in those components with a molecu-
lar structure sensitive to acid medium (epoxidated xantho-
phylls), which undergoes isomerization, with a decrease in
the intensity of yellow coloring (Mınguez-Mosquera and
Gandul-Rojas, 1994). All these transformations of chloro-
phylls and carotenoids are desirable as they are precisely
those that give the highly valuated yellow-golden color of
the Spanish-style green table olives.
In the case of natural black olives, or Greek-style, the
polymerization of the anthocyanin compounds initially

Table olive quality
Table olive quality depends on the chemical composition
and physical properties of the fruit, and this in turn is di-
rectly related to both olive variety and the harvest date.
However other factors may have an effect on the physical
and chemical characteristics of the fruits. These include the
geographical location of the crop, the age of the trees and
their distribution in the field, as well as some agricultural
characteristics such as the trees' productivity, maturation
cycle and pest resistance, the type of growing, and the
pruning and harvesting methods (Garrido-Fernandez et al.,
1997). In general varieties are chosen according to the par-
ticular type of olive being prepared, the processing method,
or the trade preparation.
Quality-related aspects for the table olive mainly fall
into two categories: essential composition and quality fac-
tors and factors related to qualitative classification, which
mainly takes stock of defects (Garrido-Fernandez and
Romero-Barranco, 1999). The current international trade
standard applied to table olives (IOC, 2004) establishes the
definitions of each of the trade names for the olives (green,
turning color, or black) for their different types of pre-