Olive oil (OO) is widely recognized as a main component in the Mediterranean diet owing to its unique chemical composition and associated health-promoting properties. This review aimed at providing readers with recent results on OO physicochemical profiling, extraction technology, and quality parameters specified by regulations to ensure authentic products for consumers. Recent research progress on OO adulteration were outlined through a bibliometric analysis mapping using Vosviewer software. As revealed by bibliometric analysis, richness in terms of fatty acids, pigments, polar phenolic compounds, tocopherols, squalene, sterols, and triterpenic compounds justify OO health-promoting properties and increasing demand on its global consumption. OO storage is a critical post-processing operation that must be optimized to avoid oxidation. Owing to its great commercial value on markets, OO is a target to adulteration with other vegetable oils. In this context, different chemometric tools were developed to deal with this problem. To conclude, increasing demand and consumption of OO on the global market is justified by its unique composition. Challenges such as oxidation and adulteration stand out as the main issues affecting the OO market.
Oil oxidation is the main factor limiting vegetable oils' quality during storage, as it leads to the deterioration of oil's nutritional quality and gives rise to disagreeable flavors. These changes make fat-containing foods less acceptable to consumers. To deal with this problem and to meet consumer demand for natural foods, vegetable oil fabricators and the food industry are looking for alternatives to synthetic antioxidants to protect oils from oxidation. In this context, natural antioxidant compounds extracted from different parts (leaves, roots, flowers, and seeds) of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) could be used as a promising and sustainable solution to protect consumers' health. The objective of this review was to compile published literature regarding the extraction of bioactive compounds from MAPs as well as different methods of vegetable oils enrichment. In fact, this review uses a multidisciplinary approach and offers an updated overview of the technological, sustainability, chemical and safety aspects related to the protection of oils.