Olives101.com

Olive oil producers are concerned that one of the gold medal winning oils in last year’s Olives New Zealand Awards is produced by one of the judges. Marlborough olive grower Mark Heard says there is a lot to be gained by winning an award as it makes a product more attractive to stockists. He has [...]

Here are some pictures of Olisur Olive Oil’s new and Eco friendly factory. More pictures and details here

Arbequina, Arbosana, and Koroneiki Recognized at the First Annual California Olive Oil Council Competition California Olive Ranch (COR), North America’s largest olive oil producer, received three medals from The California Olive Oil Council (COOC) for their 2008 harvest extra virgin olive oils: Both the single varieties Arbequina and Arbosana earned gold and COR’s single variety [...]

Over 90% of all the olive oil in the world comes from groves in the Mediterranean region. Now two of the most prominent families from the region, Devico and Moreno, have formed an alliance to bring more high quality olive oil to the United States and the world. Among the key beneficiaries of the alliance [...]

Olive pressing increases 30 times in 10 years! By Joanna Ripard, Retired jeweller Sam Cremona’s brainchild, the Project for the Revival of the Indigenous Maltese Olive (Primo), is at an “interesting stage” and is just three years away from its interim target of 10,000 trees producing the Bidnija olive. “We need to have 30,000 trees [...]

By Zoë Casey, All olive oils, from Spain’s golden nutty olive oils to Italy’s dark green grassy-flavoured olive oils, will be labelled with their country of origin from 1 July 2009, the European Commission said today. Currently, olive oils are labelled with their country of origin on a voluntary basis, but Mariann Fischer Boel, the [...]

Spanish food company SOS Cuetara (SOS.MC) expects to make between 100 million and 150 million euros (($125.8-$188.8 million) from the sale of further non-core assets, a company official said on Thursday. SOS is in the process of selling non-core businesses such as its olive oil, vinegar and sauce brands as part of efforts to pay [...]

A new levy paid by South Australian olive growers will help promote and further develop the industry. From this harvest, growers will pay a $4 levy on each tonne of fruit they produce. Olives South Australia president Lisa Rowntree says it will increase by a dollar a year for the next three years to eventually [...]

Energy Management Services International LLC (EMS) – the first company to provide energy management solutions (ESCo) in the Middle East – announced the organization of a seminar entitled ‘Energy Saving Methods and Mechanisms in the Olive Sector’ in collaboration with the Jordan Olive Products Exporters Association (JOPEA). [Source] Click here

By Marcia Wood, Olives basking in sunny California groves might find that their new best friend is a small brown wasp. Known to scientists as Psyttalia cf. concolor, the little wasp can help foil the olive fruit fly, a powerful natural enemy of olives. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist Victoria Y. Yokoyama and colleagues have [...]

A Tunisian biochemistry researcher whose laboratory specializes in the characteristics of different varieties of Tunisian olive oil, has managed to register two patents respectively on the anti-oxidant qualities of one variety of olive oil that grows in the country’s north western regions and on sterility therapy in certain animal species. Dr Mokhtar Zarrouk who heads [...]

The Guardia Civil in La Rioja has warned about the possible sale of adulterated olive oil in the area. 550 litres of oil has been found in large container labelled ‘Astispumante 1510’ and it comes after the theft of 1,750 litres of oil was reported in the area on December 18. The oil was found [...]

Researchers from the University of Granada and the University of Barcelona have shown that treatment with maslinic acid, a triterpenoid compound isolated from olive-skin pomace, results in a significant inhibition of cell proliferation and causes apoptotic death in colon-cancer cells. Maslinic acid is a novel natural compound and it is able to induce apoptosis or [...]

Good quality extra-virgin olive oil contains health-relevant chemicals, ‘phytochemicals’, that can trigger cancer cell death. New research published in the open access journal BMC Cancer sheds more light on the suspected association between olive oil-rich Mediterranean diets and reductions in breast cancer risk. Javier Menendez from the Catalan Institute of Oncology and Antonio Segura-Carretero from [...]

The study tested the ideal ripening stage to extract an olive oil with proper chemical profiles and the best oxidation levels. The chemical composition and quality of virgin olive oil may be influenced by genotype and different agronomic and technological factors. Extra virgin olive oil is considered to be the best olive oil for its [...]