Hydrolysis and oxidation of covering oil in canned dried tomatoes as affected by pasteurization

The effects of pasteurization on the chemical quality of the extra-virgin olive oil used as a covering for canned dried tomatoes were studied during storage through conventional (acidity, peroxide value, p-anisidine value, spectrophotometric indexes) and non conventional (polar compounds) analytical determinations. All the performed analyses show that extra-virgin olive oil from pasteurized samples underwent hydrolytic degradation slightly more than unheated ones but resulted slightly less oxidized than oil from untreated vessels.