Diana DeSantis, Serena Ferri, Benedetta Barelli, Lavinia Cagnazzi, Margherita Modesti
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF) University of Tuscia Viterbo Italy.
Food Sci Nutr. 2025 Jun 22;13(6):e70471. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.70471. eCollection 2025 Jun.
In recent decades, extra virgin olive oil demand has grown globally. The increasing popularity has led to a highly diversified commercial offer: supermarkets and discounters present a wide variety of brands and price ranges. However, price does not always correlate with quality, and label information can often mislead consumers. Understanding consumer preferences, knowledge, and drivers of perceived quality is crucial for maintaining trust in the extra virgin olive oil sector. This study investigates the alignment between consumers' expectations based on label information and the actual quality of extra virgin olive oils through a commercial and chemical analytical screening. The research objectives included a consumer survey to identify purchasing drivers, consumption habits, and knowledge of quality standards; a commercial survey on the extra virgin olive oil available in different stores, assessing brand, price variability, and transparency of information; and chemical and sensory analyses on selected extra virgin olive oils of different price ranges to evaluate whether the declared quality reflects the actual quality. The results showed significant inconsistencies in quality: although all oils were labeled as extra virgin olive oil, many medium- and low-priced samples presented sensory defects that EU regulations prohibit for extra virgin olive oil. Notably, oils with more detailed and transparent labeling, such as harvest year, cultivar, and extraction method, tended to perform better in chemical and sensory analyses, regardless of price. This suggests that consumers may better assess quality by scrutinizing label information rather than relying solely on price, highlighting the practical importance of comprehensive labeling.
近几十年来，特级初榨橄榄油的全球需求不断增长。其日益普及导致了商业产品的高度多样化：超市和折扣店提供了各种各样的品牌和价格区间。然而，价格并不总是与质量相关，标签信息也常常误导消费者。了解消费者偏好、知识以及感知质量的驱动因素对于维持对特级初榨橄榄油行业的信任至关重要。本研究通过商业和化学分析筛选，调查了基于标签信息的消费者期望与特级初榨橄榄油实际质量之间的一致性。研究目标包括一项消费者调查，以确定购买驱动因素、消费习惯和质量标准知识；一项针对不同商店中特级初榨橄榄油的商业调查，评估品牌、价格差异和信息透明度；以及对选定的不同价格区间的特级初榨橄榄油进行化学和感官分析，以评估宣称的质量是否反映实际质量。结果显示质量存在显著不一致：尽管所有油品都被标注为特级初榨橄榄油，但许多中低价样品存在欧盟法规禁止特级初榨橄榄油出现的感官缺陷。值得注意的是，标签更详细、透明（如收获年份、品种和提取方法）的油品，无论价格如何，在化学和感官分析中往往表现更好。这表明消费者通过仔细审查标签信息而非仅依赖价格，可能能更好地评估质量，凸显了全面标签的实际重要性。
