Text 25425, 111 rader
Skriven 2012-05-27 18:00:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: OLIVE OIL  20527
========================
-=> Quoting Glen Jamieson to Dave Drum <=-

 GJ> Following on my oily rant

I missed that, and possibly more, as there was a glitch in message
propagation for a while.

 GJ> defence of South Australian olive oil producers, headed,
 GJ> "Overseas  olive oil cheats / substandard, incorrectly labelled
 GJ> European oil is still being imported by the large supermarket
 GJ> chains. / I don't know whether your olive growers are similarly
 GJ> affected

I did some reading and it seems that (1) not all Australian oils are
super wonderful (2) mislabelled and adulterated oils are a global
problem and (3) the problem in the USA is greater as it never joined
the IOC and doesn't hold to world standards and definitions (not
unlike the issues mentioned in recent threads on champagne and
parmesan cheese.)

"Three countries are the major olive oil producers in the world.
First is Spain, second is Italy and third is Greece. Together, they
produce more than 75% of the world production.

Australia now produces a substantial amount of olive oil. Many
Australian producers only make premium oils, while a number of
corporate growers operate groves of a million trees or more and
produce oils for the general market.

In North America, Italian and Spanish olive oils are the best-known,
and top-quality extra-virgin oils from Italy, Spain, Portugal and
Greece are sold at high prices A large part of U.S. olive oil
imports also come from Turkey. New Zealand, The Republic of South
Africa, Argentina and Chile also produce extra virgin olive oil.
Arizona, California and Texas are producing olive oil that is
appearing on USA grocery market shelves along side the Mediterranean
olive oils.

The International Olive Council (IOC) is an intergovernmental
organization based in Madrid, Spain, with 23 member states. It
tracks production, defines quality standards and monitors
authenticity. The EU regulates the use of different protected
designation of origin labels for olive oils.

The United States is not a member of the IOC, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture does not legally recognize its
classifications. U.S. Customs regulations on "country of origin"
state that if a non-origin nation is shown on the label, then the
real origin must be shown on the same side of the label and in
comparable size letters so as not to mislead the consumer. Yet most
major U.S. brands continue to put "imported from Italy" on the front
label in large letters and other origins on the back in very small
print. In fact, olive oil labeled Italian often comes from Turkey,
Tunisia and Morocco. These products are a mixture of olive oil from
more than one nation and it is not clear what percentage of the
olive oil is really of Italian origin. This practice makes it
difficult for high quality, lower cost producers outside of Italy to
enter the U.S. market, and for genuine Italian producers to compete.

There have been allegations that regulation, particularly in Italy
and Spain, is extremely lax and corrupt. Major Italian and Spanish
shippers are claimed to routinely adulterate olive oil and that only
about 40% of olive oil sold as "extra virgin" actually meets the
specification. In some cases, colza oil (Swedish turnip) with
added color and flavor has been labeled and sold as olive oil. In
March 2008, 400 Italian police officers conducted "Operation Golden
Oil", arresting 23 people and confiscating 85 farms after an
investigation revealed a large-scale scheme to relabel oils from
other Mediterranean nations as Italian. In April 2008, another
operation impounded seven olive oil plants and arrested 40 people in
nine provinces of northern and southern Italy for adding chlorophyll
to sunflower and soybean oil, and selling it as extra virgin olive
oil, both in Italy and abroad.

Two diametrically opposed trends exist in the olive-oil business. In
the first, toward high quality olive oil, new milling technologies
such as stainless steel mills, high speed centrifuges, temperature
and oxygen controlled storage tanks are making it possible to
produce the best extra-virgin olive oils in history; fresh, complex
and every bit as varied as wine varietals. (There are about seven
hundred different kinds of olives.) Consumer demand for high-quality
olive oil in all of its variety, both in Europe and in North
America, is skyrocketing.

On the other hand, there's a strong downward pressure on olive-oil
quality, especially among the huge Spanish owned olive-oil traders
and bottling companies (which also control biggest Italian brands).
There is a massive output of low grade olive oils, particularly in
Spain and North Africa, which producers are selling as "extra
virgin" olive oil, even though this low grade oil doesn't meet the
requirements of the extra-virgin grade. New methods of chemical
refinement, commonly known as "deodorization," allow unscrupulous
producers to remove sensory defects and sell their sub-par oils,
illegally, as extra-virgin. By law, extra-virgin olive oil cannot
have undergone chemical manipulation.. In Spain refineries are
capable to cope with this technology. In 2012 The spot price of
"extra-virgin olive oil" in European markets has dropped as low as
1.8 euro per kilo (about a liter). Honest producers around the world
are being undercut by cheap foreign oil." - wikipedia


Cheers

YK Jim


... BP claims oil spills are nutritious for oysters.

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