SLOW FOOD/COLDIRETTI ON ITALIAN OIL: MADE FROM 50% OF OLIVES HARVESTED ABROAD

50% of Italian olive oil sold in supermarkets is made from olives of unknown origins. This is because law 204 from 2004 has still not become official for Italian oil producers which would make it mandatory to indicate the area of cultivation on extra virgin olive oil labels, rather than just the area in which it was bottled. It is a good law that is awaiting full application, but which now risks being drastically changed, reducing its efficacy.

An initiative in defense of this law, “Let’s defend the label! We want to know the source of the products we eat”, launched by Slow Food and Coldiretti, was presented at the Quality Oil event in Verona some days ago.
The European Union maintains that making it mandatory to print the origin of goods on labels is an obstacle to the free market and competition. And the drafts for new 2007 EU law, currently being discussed in Parliament, foresee the removal of some articles that impose the mandatory labeling of “Italian” goods on olive oil, as well as pasta, meat products and other food related labels. Once Parliament does scrutinize these proposed changes it may well decide to block them.

According to Coldiretti and Slow Food the changes must be stopped because they put quality Italian national olive oil production at risk, along with the 250 million olive trees (many which are secular) that also contribute to the natural beauty of the country as well as its environmental health.

Italians are among the top consumers of olive oil with 13-14 kilos per person per year, and Italy, with its 600,000 tons produced, is the second largest European producer. It also boasts 37 extra virgin olive oils that are recognized by the European Union.