Bioactive substances in black ripe olives produced in Spain and the USA

The aim of this work was to assess the contents of phenolic and triterpenic substances in commercial olives produced in the USA and Spain, which currently use different olive cultivars and elaboration methods The phenolic compounds identified in black ripe olives were hydroxytyrosol, hydroxytyrosol-4-glucoside, hydroxytyrosol acetylated, salidroside, tyrosol, luteolin-7-glucoside, p-coumaric acid and comselogoside.The concentration of these substances in American black ripe olives was lower than 50 mg/kg whereas it was higher than 150 mg/kg in Spanish olives regardless of whether the American processors used the Manzanilla cultivar, which contains higher contents of these substances in the harvested fruit than the Hojiblanca cultivar. Moreover, the concentration of triterpenic acids (oleanolic and maslinic) in American black ripe olives was lower than 200 mg/kg whereas it was higher than 400 mg/kg in the Spanish product. These results indicate that the method used by American processors to elaborate black ripe olives gives rise to lower contents in bioactive substances than the Spanish method, and it must be related to the number of alkali/washing cycles used during processing. Hence, olive processors worldwide must keep in mind the increasing consumer demand for healthy products rich in bioactive substances when developing their elaboration methods.