unfair competition

[mem]

Murat Du Carta / Chateau Carman
Producers of extra virgin olive oil, table olives and citrus fruit from our groves in Cyprus and Turkey
Tel 020 7251 4721
Email axipa@aol.com
Website www.planetmem.com

The great olive oil fraud

For many years now we have been led to believe that most commercially produced olive oils are the best and most pure available, unfortunately we were in some cases deceived
In previous years Olive oil from the supermarkets was all that was available to most of us, unless you was one of the lucky ones as I was to have 2 x 25 liter containers shipped to us every year from our own groves in Cyprus, we would share our gift with members of our family as they would share theirs

The rest of our produce would be sold off to the co operatives, who would ship it off to the commercial producers mainly in Italy for blending and repackaging   
Many olive oils sold in British supermarkets are blended from a variety of different oils and the acidity levels chemically adjusted in order that they can be labeled extra virgin olive oil
 
Some of these commercial producers have been found to have blended their oils with cheap hazelnut oil as well as or with sunflower oil
It is also a fact that they have been importing olive oil from Spain, Greece, Tunisia and Turkey, blending it and marketing it as superior Italian olive oil
They have also been importing olives from the other olive producing countries and producing olive oil and marketing it as superior Italian olive oil (please note that the best olive oil is made with olives that have been picked within 24 to 36 hours, I doubt very much whether they can pick and ship olives from countries such as Tunisia and press olive oil within 36 hours).

I urge you to read the articles regarding this great fraud by clicking on the links below

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1580807/Italian-police-crack-down-on-olive-oil-fraud.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller

I have written this article so that people can see that they have not in all cases been buying the genuine item
Most genuine producers are finding it difficult enough marketing their genuine products at realistic prices
Bearing in mind the higher costs of looking after the trees, as well as the cost of packaging and transportation
in my case my costs of transporting my oil from Cyprus is in excess of ?1 per liter, add to that the cost of looking after the trees, harvesting the olives , taking to the press, packaging and marketing etc.

How on earth are supermarkets in the UK able to sell for example a one liter stone capped glass bottle of olive oil labeled as extra virgin olive oil produced in Tuscany, Italy, which I have sometimes seen on special offer at ?3.99
In my case it is not cost affective to get organic certification, although everything I produce is to organic standards, might it be an idea to create an independent organization of small olive oil producers, or is there one already in existence?
                                                                                                   
Regards mem

[Ascalano]

Hello Mem,

I read with some interest your complaint about the lack of understanding on the part of consumers and the cost to honest producers and consumers as a result of this lack of understanding.  I share your frustration and concern and have thought for sometime that honest producers should ban together from around the world to stand up to the IOOC and various trade organizations that actually represent the interests of those companies producing defective off-grade olive oil.  There is no nice way to put this.  The industry is corrupt and those in charge will do almost anything to prevent consumers from finding out the truth when it comes to extra virgin olive oil.  They know only too well that if the average consumer knew what they know that the buying habits would change overnight.  Consumers thinking they are getting a bargain would understand that they are being ripped off and that they could easily "make" far better olive oil by mixing 50% of a decent well made EVO with an inexpensive seed oil like sunflower or canola.  The truth is that a very high percentage of the oil that passes as EVO will not pass an honest sensory evaluation or panel test.  Because the objective chemical standards are so absurdly low defective oil is routinely passed as extra virgin with a wink and a few dollars.  The is no excuse whatsoever for the chemical parameters to be as low as they are.  FFA of .8 and Peroxide values of 20 are a bad joke.  I have never tasted an olive oil that had an FFA above .6 that was not defective and I have never tasted an olive oil with a peroxide value above 14 that was not defective.  The point is that the standards are intentionally low so as to allow bottlers to blend and "create" extra virgin olive oil in the factory by mixing off grade cheaper virgin with just enough decent EVO to pass the chemistry test. If you have interest in joining a group of like minded producers I am forming an association and would be interested in having you as a member.

Ascalano

[Claude]

Hello Ascalano and welcome here 

Could you please give us more information about your Association?

Thanks.

C

[KampiaOliveOil]

Hi All

Loved the article about the super markets.

My family and I have an olive growth in Cyprus, were we produce a very high quality extra virgin olive oil. www.kampiaoliveoil.com

Our family lives in the UK and I'm currently selling our olive oil online and at local farmers markets around London.

If you would like to try a rare olive oil then please give us ago.

Kind regards

Kampia Olive Oil