The EFSA Health Claim on Olive Oil Polyphenols: Acid Hydrolysis Validation and Total Hydroxytyrosol and Tyrosol Determination in Italian Virgin Olive Oils

The health claims of olive oil represent an important marketing lever in raising the willingness to pay for a product, but world producers of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) do not take advantage of it because there are still obstacles to their use. Among these, one issue is the lack of an official method for determination of all free and linked forms derived from secoiridoidic structures of hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol. In this study, different acidic hydrolytic procedures for analyzing the linked forms were tested. The best method was validated and then applied to more than 100 EVOOs. The content of oleuropein and ligstroside derivatives in EVOOs was indirectly evaluated comparing the amount of phenols before and after hydrolysis. After acidic hydrolysis, a high content of total tyrosol was found in most of the EVOOs. The use of a suitable corrective factor for the evaluation of hydroxytyrosol allows an accurate determination only using pure tyrosol as a standard. Further knowledge on the concentration of total hydroxytyrosol will assist in forecasting the resistance of oils against aging, its antioxidant potential and to better control its quality over time.

. Classification of Health Claims (EU Regulation 1924/2006  "Plant stanol esters have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol. Blood cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease" 'Claims referring to children's development' (Article 14(1)(b) claims) "Vitamin D is needed for the normal growth and development of bone in children"

Types of Health Claims
Nutrition and health claims must not be false, ambiguous, misleading, or give rise to doubts about other foods; they must not encourage excessive consumption of a particular food or to directly or indirectly state that a balanced and varied diet cannot generally provide adequate quantities of all nutrients arousing or exploit fears in the consumer. Table S2 shows the permitted health claims for olive oil. Analyzing Table S2, it can be seen that while the claims of tocopherols and fatty acids are applicable to all the categories of olive oils, the claim of polyphenols is suitable only for the extra virgin category because the refining processes determine their removal from the olive oils as well from other virgin oils as cold pressed grape seed oils.
Since the phenolic molecules are of hydrophilic nature, the olive millers know well how difficult it is to obtain oils rich in these antioxidants, whose presence in the oil is a function, in addition to the varietal origin, of agronomic practices (pruning, fertilizing, irrigation and phytosanitary treatments) and technological aspects. Moreover, it is well known that oil yield and content in phenols are aspects that are always in antithesis in the production of extra virgin olive oil.
An empirical observation of the market makes it clear that despite the wide range of advantages deriving from the use of claims, few producers or marketing companies, 7 years after the publication of the EU regulation, systematically use one of the most advantageous marketing tools in the agri-food sector. The SWOT analysis used to evaluate the need for health claims for the EVOO producers is reported in Supplementary Table S3. Table S3. SWOT analysis used to evaluate the need for health claims for the EVOO producers.

Strengths Weaknesses
-Strong ability to add value to products -Use of already authorized health claims -Strong ability to differentiate products -Strong ability to resolve the gap of the of "asymmetry information" -To communicate and to influence the eating culture -Strong credibility of the claim deriving from the evaluation of EFSA panel of expert -Lack of skilled employees with specialized knowledge (e.g. about legal requirements) -Focus on just authorized health claims -A tool to predict the permanence of the claim validity during the shelf life of the product lacks -Knowledge about health claims on EVOO and their impact on purchase attitude and consumption behaviour of consumers is still limited. -Regard to the claim of polyphenols, an official method of analysis lacks -Regard to the claim of polyphenols, the analytical description by EFSA of the molecules to be quantified is unclear.
-Regard to the claim of polyphenols, it is difficult to understand for the average consumer. Opportunities Threats -Trade inside and outside the EU -Increasing support of EFSA and European Commission -Growing consumer demand for healthy food -Increased segmentation of markets into target groups with specific needs (i.e. elderly people; infants and children, pregnant women; sportsmen ) -Increased power of EVOO bottling firms -Increased competition from emerging producing countries -Aging and declining European population affecting employment and markets One of the main obstacles to the use of the polyphenol claim is the lack of an official method of analysis to protect the consumer, on the veracity of the claim, and the manufacturer, in the event of verification by the control bodies and in the event of legal dispute for the labeling. At the same time, the possibility to apply the claim is linked to the oil stability over time, which is associated to the natural consumption of the native polyphenols. To this aim also the actual shelf life of eighteen months from bottling has to be re-thought for the segment of virgin olive oils of higher quality.