Characterization of Turkish Olive Oils in Details

Olive oil is an important part of the human diet worldwide. Its production has increased every year. Adulteration detection and labeling olive oils with a declaration of geographical origin now is a new challenge for scientists. First, in this report, we summarize the contributions on quantitative analysis of fatty acids in Turkish olive oils. Then, we describe the reports of the minor constituents including phenols and aromatics of these olive oils, followed by less studied properties such as inorganic metal contents, bioactivity, and adulteration detection. While analyzing both the major and minor components of Turkish olive oils, we show also a comparison of their contents with other olive oils from Spain, Italy, Greece, and Tunisia. We conclude with lessons learned and aspects of scientific future work need to be done for the protection of the authenticity of olive oils.