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Chlorophylls (sum of a+b) were about 150 mg/kg in pistachios sold as ‘‘green’’ products, with a chlorophyll a/bratio of about 3. The lowest chlorophyll value (25 mg/kg) was found in a ripe Turkish product. Lutein was themain carotenoid found in pistachio kernels, ranging from 18 to 52 mg/kg. The ripe Italian samples always hadthe highest pigments concentration.2. Bellomo M.G., Fallico B., Muratore G., Parmigiano S. 2007. Stability of pigments in pistachiokernels. Ital. J. Food Sci.. Special issue 262-267.Often the use of suitable packaging is very important to decrease the degradation of food products. The aim ofthis study was to test stability of pigments (chl a, chl b and lutein) in pistachio kernels stored for 14 months, inthe dark, at three different temperatures: 10, 25 and 37°C. The samples were packaged using two films (nylonand EVOH), with and without oxygen scavengers; packages were hermetically closed. Moreover, per each temperature,some samples were packaged in bags without a hermetic seal, as reference. After 14 months, at the endof the storage period, pigments underwent a degradation that was influenced by storage time and temperatures.Lower concentrations were observed at 37°C with a degradation of about: 62% for chl a, 44% for chl b, 57% forlutein. At 10 and 25°C, the samples didn’t show any differences statistically significant and the degradation ofpigments were: 46% for chl a, 33% for chl b, 37% for lutein. Among samples, during storage no difference wasobserved, due to the packaging films or the presence of oxygen scavengers. At 25°C, after 11 months, samplespackaged in bags not closed hermetically, showed a presence of moulds and bugs (Plodia interpunctella - Hubner).For kinetic study, rate of degradation of the three pigments fitted a pseudo-zero-order kinetic and it was observedan activation energy of: 11.7 kJ/mol, 12.1 kJ/mol and 18.2 kJ/mol, respectively for chl a, chl b and lutein.3. Arena E., Campisi S., Fallico B., Maccarone E. 2007. Distribution of fatty acids and phytosterolsas a criterion to discriminate geographic origin of pistachio seeds. Food Chem. 104(01), 403-408.The composition of fatty acids and phytosterols was investigated in the oil extracted from the pistachio seedscoming from different countries, (Italy, Turkey, Iran and Greece). The oils are characterized by high contents ofoleic acid and b-sitosterol, showing a composition almost similar to that of olive oil. The pattern recognition ofdata for fatty acids sterols, by multivariate analyses, may provide useful criteria for origin authentication ofpistachio seeds.4. Bellomo M.G., Fallico B., Muratore G. 2009. Stability of pigments and oil in pistachio kernelsduring storage. Int. J. of Food Sci. & Tech., JFST-2007-02266, in pressThis work tested the stability of pigments (chlorophyll [chl] a and chlorophyll [chl] b, and lutein] and oil in pistachiokernels stored up to 14 months at three different temperatures: 10, 25 and 37 °C. The samples were hermeticallypackaged using two films (nylon and ethylene vinyl alcohol) with and without oxygen scavengers. Foreach temperature, reference samples were packaged in open bags. For both the oil and pigments, no differenceswere observed during storage, irrespective of packaging or oxygen scavengers. After 14 months, the oil showedvery few changes: a slight increase in acidity and peroxide value (PV) irrespective of storage temperature; thespectrophotometric indices K232 and K268 remained the same. As for pigment stability, the lowest concentrationswere observed at 37 _C with a degradation of about 62% for chl a, 44% for chl b and 57.5% for lutein. At10 and 25 _C, the samples showed slight differences, the pigments degradations were about 46% for chl a, 33%for chl b and 37% for lutein. The degradation rate constants for the three pigments fitted a pseudo-zero-order kineticin which Ea was 11.7 kJ mol)1, 12.1 kJ mol)1 and 18.2 kJ mol)1 for chl a, chl b and lutein respectively.SISTAL - SOCIETA’ ITALIANA DI SCIENZE E TECNOLOGIE ALIMENTARIDipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari, Università degli Studi della TusciaVia San Camillo de Lellis, 01100 ViterboTel.: 0761- 35 74 94/7 , Fax: 0761- 35 74 98, e-mail: mmoresi@unitus.it78