Oliver was born thanks to ingengineers of the Electronics for Sensory Systems Unit
It was presented at the event "EVOlution: technologies at the service of the olive oil supply chain", organized byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma on May 21, 2015, and is a experimental system capable of detecting even the slightest adulterations and counterfeits of authentic extra virgin olive oil in 90 seconds Made in Italy. Not surprisingly renamed Oliver by its creators, the ingengineers of the Electronics for Sensory Systems Unit ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma coordinated by Prof. Giorgio Pennazza, the system is portable and allows for considerable cost savings compared to traditional analysis techniques.
In fact, about 90 seconds and 4 milliliters of oil are enough to obtain optimal results. Furthermore, Oliver can also be used by non-expert operators and is able to perceive that something is wrong in the sample analyzed up to a minimum threshold of 5 percent compared to the total volume. “The defense of Italian quality products, particularly in the agro-food sector – underlined theIng. Marco Santonico, one of Oliver's 'fathers' –, has now become a national priority. The 'Italian product' label, in fact, increasingly hides sophistication even harmful to health, certainly not comparable to the typical excellence of our country. It is therefore more necessary today than ever to introduce quick, simple, cheap and effective control methods to prevent these manipulations. Oliver tries to respond to this need".
Within the same workshop, the first on the research project Tipitec, recalled the value of our local extra virgin olive oil Prof. Maurizio Caciotta, Ordinary of Measurements at the University of Roma Tre"the European Union has given a definition of extra virgin olive oil that does not satisfy us and that penalizes our country a lot. Perhaps it was done to allow theingplaced on the market of companies from countries that do not have the production culture of extra virgin olive oil. This today allows the presence in supermarkets of oils that comply with European standards, but which are not, in terms of 'feeling', comparable to the extra virgin olive oil traditionally required by the Mediterranean diet. They are 'industrial' oils, those costing 5-6 euros per litre. Italian producers of high-quality blends complain that the out-of-pocket cost of producing real extra virgin olive oil is no less than 17-20 euros per litre, which on the counter also means 45-50 euros per liter. For this reason, today, high quality EVO blends are purchased almost exclusively outside Italy, especially in the USA. In a market where there has been no downward 'pollution'".