Direct olive oil analysis

The practical impact of "direct analysis" is undeniable as it strong contributes to enhance the so-called productive analytical features such as expeditiousness, reduction of costs and minimisation of risks for the analysts and environment. The main objective is to establish a reliable bypass to the conventional preliminary operations of the analytical process. This paper offers a systematic approach in this context and emphasises the great field of action of direct methodologies in the routine analysis of olive oil. Two main types of methodologies are considered. On the one hand, the direct determination of volatile components is systematically considered. On the other hand, simple procedures to automatically implement the preliminary operations of the oil analysis using simple devices in which the sample is directly introduced with/without a simple dilution are present and discussed.