LOCATION EFFECTS ON OXIDATIVE STABILITY OF CHÉTOUI VIRGIN OLIVE OIL SONIA BEN TEMIME, BECHIR BACCOURI, WAEL TAAMALLI, LEILA ABAZA, DOUJA DAOUD and MOKHTAR ZARROUK 1 Laboratoire Caractérisation et Qualité de l’Huile d’Olive INRST B.P. 95-2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia Received for Publication September 20, 2005 Accepted for Publication January 3, 2006 ABSTRACT The effect of growing area on the natural antioxidant and oxidative stability of Chétoui virgin olive oil was studied. Total phenolic content, toco- pherol composition, fatty acid composition and oxidative stability were ana- lyzed. The results obtained in this study showed that Chétoui virgin olive oil composition is greatly influenced by growing environment, i.e., mainly by the climatic and pedologic factors. The cumulative rainfall appears to have a major influence on phenolic and o-diphenol content. Among studied samples, Amdoun oil had the highest total phenolic content, which exceeded 700 mg/kg. Moreover, it contained the highest amounts of o-diphenols 286.08  6.74 mg/kg and total tocopherols 405.65  4.17 mg/kg. The amounts of total phenols and o-diphenols showed a good correlation (P  0.001) with stability while tocopherols showed a very low relation to oxidative stability. INTRODUCTION Virgin olive oil is one of the most highly prized edible fats in the Medi- terranean countries and the only one among all vegetable oils that can be consumed in crude form without any refining process (Boskou 1996; Kiritsakis 1998). It also has excellent aroma and flavor. A good balance between saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids confers to virgin olive oil its nutritional quality. The chemical and quality characteristics 1 Corresponding author. TEL: 0021671430855; FAX: 0021671430934; EMAIL: mokhtar.zarrouk@ inrst.rnrt.tn Journal of Food Biochemistry 30 (2006) 659–670. All Rights Reserved. © 2006, The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2006, Blackwell Publishing 659