David C. Kennedy

The growing popularity of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), thanks in part to its presumed health benefits, has resulted in an increased incidence of product adulteration to achieve higher financial gains. This adulteration, through dilution with less expensive oils, has created demand for product authenticity testing. Olive oil testing based on traditional methods is slow, labour-intensive, and requires large amounts of organic solvents. This article reviews the challenges in the accurate analysis of olive oil and discusses new methods that can improve this testing.