A Full Technological Traceability System for Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Abstract

The traceability of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) could guarantee the authenticity of the product and the protection of the consumer if it is part of a system able to certify the traceability information. The purpose of this paper was to propose and apply a complete electronic traceability prototype along the entire EVOO production chain of a small Italian farm and to verify its economic sustainability. The full traceability of the EVOO extracted from 33 olive trees from three different cultivars (Carboncella, Frantoio and Leccino) was considered. The technological traceability system (TTS; infotracing) consists of several open source devices (based on radio frequency identification (RFID) and QR code technologies) able to track the EVOO from the standing olive tree to the final consumer. The infotracing system was composed of a dedicated open source app and was designed for easy blockchain integration. In addition, an economic analysis of the proposed TTS, with reference to the semi-mechanized olive harvesting process, was conducted. The results showed that the incidence of the TTS application on the whole production varies between 3% and 15.5%, (production from 5 to 60 kg tree-1). The application at the consortium level with mechanized harvesting is fully sustainable in economic terms. The proposed TTS could not only provide guarantees to the final consumer but could also direct the farmer towards precision farming management.