About us

The present project focuses on valorization of olive mill wastewater and olive wet pomace or paté, obtained by the extraction system based on multi-phase decanters. Although olive by-products have only been considered a major environmental issue for many years, in the last decades, numerous studies have deeply described their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, anticancer, antihyperglycemic activities.

Numerous studies have focused on optimization methods to extract polyphenols from olive oil by-products for pharmaceutical or cosmetic applications, and recent efforts have been made to exploit olive oil by-products such as food or ingredients.

However, the most important obstacle remains the high bitter and spicy taste. It is well known that selected microbial cultures, besides their ability to drive the fermentation process, can exert several activities including the hydrolysis of phenolic compounds (such as oleuropein) and the production of volatile molecules that positively affect the sensory profile of the final products.

The main challenge of Oli4food project is to realize, at an industrial scale, functional olive-based products in order to foster the access of safe and affordable products as effective ways to prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) that are responsible for almost 70% of all deaths worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries.