The manufacturing process

OIL SELECTION

Different olive cultivars (or varieties), production zones, degree of ripeness and fruit health produce very different qualities in extra virgin olive oils.

Extraction technology (olive mills), time frames and storage methods also impact first on the olives and then on the oils.

Each batch of oil is unique and Zefferino Monini’s task is selecting the best oils: those which are elegant, lively and flawless to taste. Only those getting top marks move on to the lab for the following quality and authenticity tests.

QUALITY TEST

We have a 200 square meter testing lab with innovative equipment of such sensitivity that they can detect even a single gram of contaminants in a million liters of oil.

Every year we perform approximately 18,000 tests and monitor products across their whole life cycle, checking around 80,000 parameters.

CHEMICAL TESTING

More than twenty different chemical tests enable us to monitor oil quality and its purity from pesticides, mineral oils, environmental contaminants and solvents.

ORGANOLEPTIC TESTING

Zefferino Monini coordinates a team of professionals who assess flavor and palate sensation, absence of defects, but also the virtues of a fine extra virgin olive oil.

Tasting assesses the intensity, complexity and elegance of the oil’s aromas and flavors: cut grass, fresh or dried almond, green tomato and artichoke or more flowery aromas.

At the same time, the intensity and length of tasting sensations such as notes of bitterness and spiciness are also assessed.

CONSTANT COMMITMENT

It is these aroma and flavor tests which come before any other tests on the oils our suppliers give us, those coming into the plant and those being packaged.

These tests are also done on Monini olive oils after they leave the company. Monini constantly makes market research by testing oils from retail outlets, including Monini oils to ensure that consumers receive quality product.

We do more than 10,000 organoleptic tests per year, a third of which are done personally by Zefferino Monini.

PANEL TEST

Olive oil panel test is an official testing method in which at least 8 trained testers assess the intensity – mild, medium, intense – of certain extra virgin olive oil virtues such as fruitiness, bitterness and spiciness as well as any defects it may have.

Oils can be classified as extra virgin solely and exclusively if they are 100% defect free.

A treasure to be safeguarded

RAW MATERIALS DELIVERY AND STORAGE

More than 1000 different lots of olive oil are delivered to the plant every year and it is only after the various checks have been completed that the oil is deposited in the storage tanks.

Oils with different sensory characteristics and origins are stored separately.

It is only just before packaging that the various oils with their different aromas and flavors are combined according to recipes or blends decided by Zefferino Monini for the purposes of recreating the sensory profile and quality standards set down for each extra virgin olive oil.

MOVING AND BLENDING

As any transfers or combining of oils from one tank to another are recorded, an IT system keeps track of the analytical values of the oil in each tank and updates values.

The more than 500 blends we make up every year are then analyzed once again before packaging and all their analytical values are compared with average theoretical values supplied by the IT system.

During the packaging phase a further 1500 tests per year are done to ensure that all manufacturing phases from blending to filtering are performed correctly.

WAREHOUSE AND STORAGE TANKS

We have approximately 170 storage tanks all made of stainless steel with capacities varying from 3 to 210 tons with different use according to the type of oil.

Tanks are supplied with an inertization system with nitrogen gas which prevents oil coming into contact with oxygen and thus preserves it better. Level sensors measure the quantity of oil present in every tank and the available space exactly.

Some of the tanks used for our top products are temperature controlled to 53-64°F.
Computers in the various spaces of the tank rooms and testing labs monitor the quantity of oil in each tank and follow transfers from one tank to another during the blending phase, stage by stage.

Any oil transfers from one tank to another are recorded and an IT system linked to each tank records all the analytical parameters detected at the lab for each single tank.

Guaranteed freshness

Immediately before packaging all MONINI oils are filtered and clarified.

These processes are in no way altering the nutritional properties and quality of the oil but improve product conservation significantly by eliminating solid particles and residual vegetable water droplets from the oil.

FILTERING

Oils are filtered with filter sheets complete with a layer of diatom algae flour on the surface, a natural, totally inert substance used for filtering wine, fruit juices and other drinks. After passing through this layer of flour, the oils have been filtered, i.e. they are free of the droplets of vegetable water and olive fragments which make the oils look cloudy if not removed.

CLARIFYING

Immediately after the filtering process, the oil is subjected to clarifying. This is done with a filter which uses sheets of cellulose paper, simple absorbent paper a few millimeters thick.

After clarifying, the oil is translucent and water-free, ready for bottling and capable of conserving its sensory profile and precious antioxidant properties intact for longer.

The bottling phases

The Monini plant in Spoleto has ten bottling lines and every day an average of 100,000 liters of oil is bottled with peaks touching 280,000 liters when there are three work shifts.

CONTAINER CHECKS

Clean, checked, protected: even if the bottles are new, all bottles are blown with compressed air and then electronically inspected: those showing defects such as glass bubbles, cracks and chips are thrown out.

filling

Every oil gets to the bottling belt via special pipes which guarantee product specification bottle by bottle.

The largest scale filling belts weigh each bottle before and after filling, checking oil quantities in each bottle.

FINAL CHECKS

We position a TV camera at the end of the bottle capping process to check the oil level in each bottle before they are capped. A light signal checks the presence of the production lot on each bottle allowing for total product traceability.

EXPIRY DATE

Oil expiry date is actually ‘preferred use by’ dates fixed by each producer on the basis of reasonable time frames within which the characteristics of the oil remain ‘acceptable’, usually 18 months from the packaging date.

Monini standards are quite strict and we prefer consumers to use our products as fresh as possible. The use before date we use is thus 18 months from the packaging date because, as the saying here goes, “old wine, new oil!”

PACKAGING

To protect oil from light, the bottles are packed in a tray with customized Monini wrapping film; those sent overseas are packed in cartons to completely protect oil from light and heat.

READY FOR DELIVERY

Cases are assembled into pallets and piled up using robotic shuttles in the warehouse. Final products are prepared for loading according to the order delivery schedule.

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