Although fraud in the sector is not “generalized”, it “negatively” affects the product
Madrid, March 30, 2016.
More and more oils are passing off as Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and the European Union is not willing to let consumers be deceived. The OLEUM project, led by the University of Bologna and in which the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) participates, aims to curb this type of scam. However, according to one of its researchers, Wenceslao Moreda, recently assured the newspaper Aquí Europa, the frauds with this product “are not generalized”. INNOLIVA, as a producer of excellence, highlights the importance of knowing how to distinguish a true EVOO and insists that consumers demand the quality they are paying.
In order for an olive oil to be called EVOO, it must comply with the parameters, both chemical and sensorial, established in Regulation 2568/91 of the European Commission and in the Commercialization Standard of IOC T15. Among them, there should be no addition of any other oil of different species to the olive tree.
In 2014, the European Commission published a call for projects within the framework of the specific Horizon 2020 program on the authenticity of olive oil, which was finally awarded to the OLEUM consortium, led by the University of Bologna and involving 20 research institutions, among them the CSIC.
With a budget of around five million euros, of which 606,000 correspond to the CSIC, “the project consists in making a revision of all current legislation, including the methodologies involved, seeking solutions to the problems of quality and genuineness of the oil. of olive, updating and improving current methods and looking for new methods that improve existing ones or that allow detecting the most important problems that now exist in terms of genuineness, “explains Moreda.
However, far from what can be thought, the researcher says that “olive oil fraud is not widespread,” although he acknowledges the “negative” effect caused by isolated cases.
INNOLIVA’s main objective is the development of a product of Excellent Quality and that guarantees its customers a strict Comprehensive Traceability, Quality and Food Safety. For this reason, he works his olive groves with methods of Integrated Production and with the HACCP system (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) in the Almazara. In addition, it has all the corresponding certificates according to the international quality protocol.
The company supports any initiative that strives to guarantee respect for the true EVOO, as is the case of OLEUM, and appreciates the role that Spain plays in it. Likewise, it sends a message to consumers, whom it urges to verify and demand that the product they are buying meets all the requirements, giving the place it deserves to the most characteristic product of the Mediterranean Diet.
About Innoliva
The company, which has its head office in Pamplona (Spain), owns more than 5,000 hectares of irrigated olive groves, located in Spain and Portugal, where the Mediterranean climate gives the olive tree the ideal environment for the development and maturation of the fruit; and it favors the obtaining of Extra Virgin Olive Oils with excellent sensory qualities.
With its production system, they guarantee the integral traceability of the entire process: from the olive tree to the final customer.
They make their Extra Virgin Olive Oil cold in the shortest time possible from the entrance of the olive in the oil mill. And they take care of the oil already produced to maintain their excellent sensory and healthy qualities as long as possible.
