Innovative Technology for the Production of Pate Paste from Olive Pomace
M. Balzano, D. Pacetti, N.G. Frega
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences. 
Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.

The Italian olive oil sector is hardly influenced by selling price restraint, strong competition with other producer countries and the steady rise of production costs. 
Taking into account this particular context, the “MICROFILIERE STOP AND GO” project sponsored by Regional council of Marche had the aim to promote not only the development of new products but also the sustainability of the local food supply chain.
The work had the purpose to produce a quality food, made from raw materials typical of the Marche region, in particular the work focused the interest towards paste extracted from olive pomace. Olive pomace is considered a low value material almost as refuse. New horizontal decanter centrifuges are able to separate olive pomace in two fraction, a dry paste with kernels and wet paste without kernels which it is called pate. 
The pate can be considered as an interesting food, under nutritional and economical point of view. 
As such, the development of a protocol, able to carry out a standardized method for the production of pate, was set on.
One of the main problems in the production of pate was represented by the high degree of bitterness, which causing unpleasant off-flavor. In order to reduce the bitterness and improve the conservation time several debittering and storage techniques were evaluated (4).
The experimental pastes obtained were evaluated not only using chemical standardized analyses but also using a innovative organoleptic test (1-2-3). 
Finally, the trial pate was an attractive food characterized by a highly nutritional value, balanced in terms of sensory parameters and storable.

References 
1.	EC 1991 Commission Regulation (EEC) 2568/91 of 11 July 1991 on characteristics of olive oil and on the relevant methods of analysis.
2.	IOOC, 2003. Trade standard applying to olive oil and olive pomace oil, COI/T. 15/NC no. 3/Rev 1 (2003) Madrid, Spain. Official EC Journal, L248 (1991), pp. 0001–0083
3.	Montedoro, G., Servili, M., Baldioli, M., Miniati, E., 1992. Simple and hydrolyzable phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil. 1. Their extraction, separation, and quantitative and semiquantitative evaluation by HPLC. J. Agric. Food Chem. 40, 1571–1576.
4.	Gómez, A.H.S., García, P., Navarro, L.R., 2006. Elaboration of table olives. Grasas y Aceites 57, 86–94.