Supporting the value chain of extra-virgin olive oil: about the reuse for nutritional purposes of wet olive pomace

The work provides a process description for the separation and exploitation of a high value by-product from the extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) mill waste. In particular, the olive pomace is a by-product that can potentially improve the EVOO value chain by providing a genuine primary matter for the agrofood industry. Furthermore, such an exploitation of pomace would reduce the environmental and economic problems related to the mill wastes management and disposal. The modern two-phase milling technique largely reduces the wastewater but produces a relevant quantity of wet pomace. Two-phase mills in Italy account for about 11% of the total, thus producing a relevant amount of wet olive cakes. In Colli Orvietani area, the residual olive cake most often retains very high nutritional properties, owing to the persistence of an effective management of the olive orchards within the frame of a traditional small farming system. The reduction of mill wastewater and the exploitation of the wet olive cake for innovative and high added value agrofood products seem effective strategies to endorse the local processes of sustainable development.