The Olivarero Communal Heritage Foundation, which brings together business, union and government representatives of the oil industry, has presented a new quality seal for olive oil, private and self-regulated by the sector, which raises the demands of the recent oil quality law.
The new certification, its promoters explain, reinforces the minimum quality of the product and the control of industrial processes: To receive the seal, the facilities must be placed at the service of independent audits at all times, apart from those carried out by the administration.
The certification also will raise the minimum purity parameters of the oil that the law allows: for extra virgin olive oil, it will be required that the acidity level does not exceed 0.4, instead of the 0.8 established by the European Union regulations.
An industry bet
The initiative has been endorsed in its presentation ceremony by agents from all over the sector, starting with two of the biggest manufacturers of olive oil in the country –Deoleo and Dcoop–, as well as representatives of the central government and the administrations of Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha. The president of Deoleo, Ignatius Silva, He has come to affirm, as reported by EfeAgro, that he does not imagine that there are companies that do not want to join the certificate.
As its promoters acknowledge, the main objective of the initiative, in addition to promoting the image of Spanish olive oil, involves avoid cases of fraud that, until now, continue to be relatively frequent in the sector: last month the Civil Guard of Seville dismantled a network dedicated to introducing large batches of bulk oil on the market that, despite being labeled as “extra virgin olive oil ” was actually a mixture of olive pomace and sunflower oil.
Although the industry spokespersons thanked the government representatives present at the event for launching the new quality law -in force since last September- believe that this is not enough. In his opinion, it is necessary to advance in the physical-chemical aspect of the product to demand much higher parameters that guarantee even more quality, increase traceability controlsinclude sustainability issues and address an update or reformulation of the tasting panels, another of the most controversial points of the current oil rating system, which ultimately depends on a subjective assessment of the tasters.
Direct to the Palate | Olive pomace oil seeks to get out of ostracism: this is what happens with the 90% of the olive that is not “virgin” oil
Direct to the Palate | What is unfiltered olive oil or branch oil, what are its advantages (and drawbacks) and how to use it in the kitchen