Emir. J. Food Agric ● Vol 30 ● Issue 7 ● 2018 611 Physicochemical, nutritional and microbiological characteristics of traditional table olives from Southern Portugal Paula Pires-Cabral 1,2 , Tânia Barros 1 , Patrícia Nunes 1,2 , Célia Quintas 1,2 * 1 Universidade do Algarve, Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Campus da Penha, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal, 2 Universidade do Algarve, Centre for Mediterranean Bioresources and Food (MeditBio), Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal *Corresponding author: Célia Quintas, Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Campus da Penha, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal. Tel: +351 289 800 100 or +351 289 800 124. E-mail: cquintas@ualg.pt. Received: 12 February 2018; Accepted: 19 June 2018 INTRODUCTION According to the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC, 2016), the most consumed fermented food in Europe are table olives. These processed fruits of Olea europaea are of high nutritional value and their consumption is recommended every day in a serving portion, such as a handful (Bach-Faig et al., 2011; Uylaşer and Yildiz, 2014). In the 2015/2016 crop year, the International Olive Oil Council published that world table olives production was about 2,700,000 ton, in which 770,000 ton were European. Spain was the largest producer with 490,800 ton, followed by Greece (204,000 ton), Italy (50,500 ton) and Portugal (20,700 ton) and fnally by France with 1,100 ton (IOOC, 2016). Table olives production is a valuable contribution to the economy of Mediterranean countries. The olive fermentation processing aims to eliminate its natural bitterness associated with phenolic compounds, enhance the preservation characteristics and improve the organoleptic, nutritional and functional features of the fnal product. According to the processing operations, the most common commercialized preparations are classifed as Treated olives, Natural olives and Olives darkened by oxidation. Treated olives, such as Spanish-style olives, are green, changing color or black fruits that undergo alkaline treatment, followed by complete or partial fermentation (IOOC, 2004). The objective of the lye treatment is to debitter the olives through the chemical hydrolysis of oleuropein and increase the permeability of the olive’s skin, resulting in an increase of the effux of nutrients into the brines. Natural olives, for example, Greek olives, are green, changing color or black fruits, placed directly in brines where they undergo a complete or partial fermentation and Table olives (Olea europaea) are an important fermented product of the Mediterranean diet food pattern and Portugal is one of the biggest producers in Europe. Three different cultivars produced traditionally in Southern Portugal were studied, Maçanilha Algarvia, Cobrançosa and Galega, which were all processed through natural fermentations, although prepared differently. Maçanilha green were cracked, Cobrançosa turning color split, and Galega black prepared as a whole. At the end of the fermentation, the microbiological, physicochemical and nutritional characteristics were studied following standard methodologies. All the fruits showed a good pulp/stone ratio, confrming their aptitude to produce table olives, though their color and texture were statistically different. The three table olives showed suitable acidity and pH values, in addition to a high water content, followed by fat, low-sugar content and fairly low dietary fber, resulting in a valuable energy food product. Nutritionally, the olives were not signifcantly different, however Galega had the highest total phenolic content. Statistical differences were observed among their fatty acid composition, with Galega and Maçanilha having the highest oleic and linoleic contents, respectively. The mesophilic microorganisms, the fungi and the LAB were 5.3, 4.7, 4.0 Log CFU/g, 5.9, 5.0, 4.4 Log CFU/g and 5.6, 3.7, 3.7 Log CFU/g for Maçanilha, Cobrançosa and Galega, respectively. No E. coli, staphylococci, Salmonella sp. and Listeria monocytogenes were detected in the samples. The table olives studied revealed an excellent microbial quality and are a good source of phenolics and total unsaturated fatty acids, namely linoleic and oleic acids. Keywords: Olea europaea; Natural fermentation; Nutritional characterization; Maçanilha Algarvia, Cobrançosa and Galega Cultivars ABSTRACT Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture. 2018. 30(7): 611-620 doi: 10.9755/ejfa.2018.v30.i7.1747 http://www.ejfa.me/ REGULAR ARTICLE