Pigments are responsible for the color of olive oils, and are an important ingredient that is directly related to the quality of this food. However, the concentration of pigments can vary significantly depending on the climate conditions, harvesting time, and olive cultivars. In this work, we quantified the main pigments in several extra-virgin olive oils produced from a blend of three cultivars (Moraiolo, Frantoio, and Leccino) typical of Tuscany (Italy) harvested in three different years: 2012, 2013, and 2014. Pigments—namely, β-carotene, lutein, pheophytin A, and pheophytin B—were quantified by a method based on the mathematical analysis of the near ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra of the oils. Data were analyzed by a multivariate statistical approach. The results show that the pigments’ content of extra-virgin olive oils produced in 2014 can be well distinguished with respect to previous years. This can be explained by the anomalous climate conditions, which strongly affected Italy and, in particular, Tuscany, where the olives were harvested. This study represents an interesting example of how pigment content can be significant in characterizing olive oils. Moreover, this is the first report of pigment quantification in extra-virgin olive oils produced in Tuscany.

Pigments, divided into carotenoids and chlorophyll derivatives, are responsible for the colour of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO). The concentration of pigments in EVOO depends on several factors, such as the maturity of olives before oil production, the cultivar and the geographic origin of olives. Pigments naturally degrade in olive oil (OO) during storage, and they may decompose due to light, temperature and oxygen exposure. The nature and concentration of pigments in EVOOs are different from seed oils, and this is a base of their use to reveal oil treatments and sophistication. In this chapter, the analytical methods, mainly chromatographic and spectroscopic, applied to identify and quantify pigments are overviewed. In particular, the applications of these methods to check the authenticity and the quality of extra-virgin olive oil are discussed.

Carotenoids and chlorophyll derivatives play a key role in Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOOs). Many factors,\ud such as cultivar, geographic origin, maturity of olives, climate and storage conditions, influence the\ud pigments’ content. The quantification of pigments is usually done by chromatographic techniques.\ud However, recent works evidenced the potentialities of UV-visible-related methodologies. In this\ud research, a selection of EVOO samples produced from olives harvested at the beginning of November\ud 2014 in Greece, Tunisia, Italy and Spain, was investigated in terms of pigments by means of two methods.\ud The first one is a recent approach based on the mathematical treatment of near UV-vis absorption spectra\ud of olive oils to quantify in a fast, cheap and non-destructive way four main pigments, namely b-carotene,\ud lutein, pheophytin A and pheophytin B. The second one is a more standard HPLC-DAD method. From the\ud comparison between the two methods, we can conclude that the new near UV-vis approach gives\ud reliable results, with good precision and high reproducibility. Pigments quantified by these two methods\ud in EVOOs produced in four countries from different cultivars are analyzed by principal component\ud analysis (PCA). Results indicate that pigments can be correlated to several factors such as ripeness stage,\ud geographic origin and cultivars