Quality Changes of Extra Virgin Olive Oil Packaged in Coloured Q1 Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottles Stored Under Different Lighting Conditions By Valeria Rizzo, 1 Luisa Torri, 2 Fabio Licciardello, 1 Luciano Piergiovanni 3 and Giuseppe Muratore 1 * 1 DiSPA - Department of Agricultural and Food Productions, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 98, 95123 Catania, Italy 2 University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12060 Bra, Italy 3 DEFENS - Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan, Via Celoria, 2, 20133 Milano, Italy Q2 In this paper, the influence of light storage and the exposure on quality parameters of a monovarietal extra virgin olive oil packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles were investigated. Coloured PET bottles (clear, green, orange, white and blue) were stored under different artificial lighting conditions in order to simulate the market environment (one fluorescent cool white lamp) and to perform an accelerated test (four fluorescent cool white lamps); storage in the dark was considered as a control. Total peroxide value, polyphenols, chlorophyll and carotenoids contents were, among the ones tested, the quality indexes most affected by lighting and were useful to investigate the bottle colour influence. Concerning the global quality of olive oil, under one fluorescent lamp, the best performances were obtained using blue and white PET bottles; whereas under accelerated conditions, the differences in the protection efficacy offered by the differently coloured bottles were reduced. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 5 October 2012; Revised 4 June 2013; Accepted 21 June 2013 KEY WORDS: extra virgin olive oil; PET bottles; lighting; shelf life; colour influences; accelerated shelf life test INTRODUCTION Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is obtained from olives solely by mechanical or other physical means, having a typical characteristic, the presence of natural antioxidant components that can keep it longer than the other vegetable oils, which are generally submitted to refining processes. It is considered the best quality olive oil for its sensorial characteristics, stability and bio-active compounds content. The importance of EVOO is well known because it is one of the principal component of the Mediterranean diet, appreciated for the health benefits that have been demonstrated to be related to the protection against chronic and degenerative diseases, different tumours and ageing. 1 The necessity to preserve the characteristic aroma, taste, colour and nutritive properties focused the attention of the olive oil industry on possible innovations that are able to keep the product without any loss of these positive attributes. In fact, similarly to other products that are produced in a limited period, but consumed throughout the year, it must be stored and the storage as well as the packaging conditions play an important role in determining its shelf life. 2,3 * Correspondence to: Giuseppe Muratore, DiSPA - Department of Agricultural and Food Productions, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 98, 95123 Catania, Italy. E-mail: g.muratore@unict.it PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE Packag. Technol. Sci. (2013) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pts.2044 Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Journal Code Article ID Dispatch: 09.07.13 CE: Ada, Emma Jane P T S 2 0 4 4 No. of Pages: 13 ME: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59