Assessment of Olive Oils Quality in the Retail Markets of Tirana, Albania, and Adherence to Regulations

The importance of fat quality in our diet has been debated in last decades. Olive oil stands out in that category. The primary goal of the quality evaluation is to manage the key components by avoiding retail product adulteration. Health concerns are associated with their research on fatty acid profiles. Olive oil stands out among vegetable oils due to its purported health advantages and the fact that it has been the target of fraud, adulteration, and misleading labeling. We used gas chromatography with a Flame Ionization Detector and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to examine the fatty acid profiles of several olive oils from well-known domestic brands sold in retail stores. Under the regulations for olive oil products, the fatty acid (FA) profiles did not detect any signs of adulteration. The levels of trans-FAs were below the limit set by the European Union regulation 2568/91. In terms of weight, the oleic acid concentration of olive oils ranged from 64.71% to 75.62%. Olive oil has a low palmitic acid concentration, ranging from 8.43% to 14.26%. Linoleic acid levels ranged from 6.64 percent to 13.1 percent. Lower than 1%, the linolenic acid ranged from 0.38 to 0.94 ± 0.01%. According to analytical data, the fatty acid profile of olive oil does not reveal any signs of adulteration. Not only was it low in saturated fat, but it was also rich in monounsaturated fat.