Inter-laboratory validation of newly formulated reference materials for olive oil sensory analysis

SUMMARY: Among the available reference materials (RMs) for virgin olive oil (VOO) sensory analysis, it could be very useful to include: i) a suitable training of sensory assessors and ii) the determination of the validity of the sensory evaluation. In this study, an interlaboratory validation of RMs for the winey-vinegary and rancid defects in VOOs, developed in the framework of the OLEUM project is carried out. RMs were firstly olfactory certified by six panels, subsequently assessed during the pre-trial phase and finally, re-evaluated in twelve sensory laboratories. The RMs were defined as appropriate by the majority of panellists interviewed and the participant panels reached a satisfactory agreement on the intensity of the main perceived defect. The results confirmed that the adoption of the proposed RMs could enhance the tasters’ skills in recognizing and quantifying sensory attributes in VOOs by comparing their judgment to the “assigned values” of RMs.