May 6/Agriculture Week -- "Olive phenol extracts from waste from olive-oil production (alperujo) have been obtained by microwave-assisted extraction and used for edible oil enrichment," scientists in Cordoba, Spain, report.
"The extracts as such or after extractant removal were used to enrich edible oils of different fatty acid composition by liquid-liquid or solid-liquid extraction, respectively. The distribution ratios of the phenols in the different oils [olive-orujo (the waste of milled olives from which low-quality oil is obtained), sunflower, high oleic-acid content sunflower, coconut and linseed] showed a given order as a function of phenol polarity and molecular weight, with higher distribution factors for more polar and lower molecular-weight phenols," wrote M.V. Giron and colleagues, University of Cordoba.