olives101OLIVE NEWS & INFORMATION 🇺🇸 🇫🇷

Year: 2012

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Olive Farmers Want Shops Liable and Panel Verdicts Made Final

Europe's olive cooperatives want shops held liable for oil quality and panel test verdicts made final. What their wishlist would mean for…

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New EU Quality Law Obliges States to Police Fake PDO Olive Oil

The EU's new quality schemes regulation takes effect January 3 and obliges every state to stop fake PDO olive oil. What changes,…

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Spain’s Olive Crop Halves and Prices Start to Climb

Spain olive oil harvest 2012: the crop is forecast down 49% to 820,000 tons and mill prices are up 27%. What the…

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China Protects Two Spanish Olive Oil Names in EU Pilot Deal

Sierra Mágina and Priego de Córdoba olive oil are now protected names in China under the EU's 10 plus 10 deal. What…

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Argentina Makes Olive Oil a ‘National Food’ to Lift Home Sales

Argentina's Congress declares olive oil a national food. Argentines eat about 125 grams a year; here is what the law says and…

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Coles Drops ‘Light’ and ‘Pure’ From Its Own-Label Olive Oil

Coles says all its own-label olive oil will meet the Australian Standard by year end, dropping 'light' and 'pure'. What changes, and…

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Crisis in Greece: Olive Trees Cut Down for Firewood

With heating oil near 1.40 euros a liter, thieves in Greece are sawing down olive trees at night. Why olive trees cut…

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US Olive Oil Imports Head Past 300,000 Tons, Spain Gains Fast

US olive oil imports hit 290,227 tons in 11 months, up 7 percent, with Spain gaining fast on Italy. Who supplies the…

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Junk Meal Stiffens Arteries, Olive Oil Meal Does Not: Study

A Montreal study found one junk-food meal cut artery dilation 24 percent, while a Mediterranean meal cooked in olive oil did not.…

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Deoleo Takes the Hojiblanca Brand, Hojiblanca Takes 9.63% of Deoleo

Deoleo gets the Hojiblanca brand and Antequera plant; the cooperative gets 9.63% of Deoleo. What the Deoleo Hojiblanca deal means for your…

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Chinese Investors Buy Kailis Organic Olive Groves for $15 Million

Kailis Organic Olive Groves, sunk by $18 million of debt, is sold to six Chinese investors. Why a grove that never made…

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West Bank Olive Harvest Opens With 870 Trees Cut or Burned

The UN counted over 870 Palestinian olive trees cut or burned by settlers as the West Bank olive harvest opened. What it…

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Could Olive Mill Wastewater Become a Health Drink Ingredient?

A Moroccan-led review says olive mill wastewater phenolics could enrich functional drinks. What it claims, what it does not prove, and why…

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India’s Punjab Plans to Grow Olives, Starting With 10 Hectares

Punjab plans olive cultivation with a 10-hectare pilot and farm subsidies, following Rajasthan. Why an olive plan needs patience more than money.

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UC Davis: Most Restaurant ‘Extra Virgin’ Fails the Taste Test

UC Davis tested 21 olive oils sold to US restaurants: 9 of 15 'extra virgin' failed tasting and two held canola. Why…

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first Israeli olive pit spitting competition

Olive-pit spitting is a real, faintly absurd sport with world records and a governing body. Where it comes from, how far champions…

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A Hot Summer Slows the Olive Fly but Shrivels the Olives

Summer heat shuts down the olive fruit fly but shrivels the fruit. How a hot, dry 2012 summer cuts both ways for…

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Brussels Sees Spain Making 1.68 Million Tons of Olive Oil by 2020

An EU olive oil outlook to 2020 sees Spain growing on irrigation while Italy and Greece make less, just as a drought…

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UK Watchdog Clears ‘Less Saturated Fat Than Olive Oil’ Ads

Flora Cuisine's 45% less saturated fat than olive oil ads are cleared by the UK watchdog. Why the complaints failed and what…

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Preserve Fresh Herbs in Olive Oil (the Safe Way)

A glut of summer herbs and a bottle of olive oil add up to free flavour all winter — if you freeze…

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An Airport Explosives Test Could Catch Olive Oil Fraud

An airport explosives test adapted by Córdoba chemists screens olive oil for fraud in 15 minutes. How it works, how reliable it…

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Consumer Reports Olive Oil Test: Only 9 of 23 Pass as Extra Virgin

The Consumer Reports olive oil test: 23 extra virgins tasted, only 9 made the grade. California oils won; big brands tasted stale.…

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Importers Petition FDA for an Olive Oil Standard of Identity

U.S. importers ask the FDA for an olive oil standard of identity defining every grade and test. What the NAOOA petition asks…

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Uruguay Asks to Join the International Olive Council

Uruguay applies to join the International Olive Council at its first session in Latin America, as Argentina presses for a new campesterol…

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Greek Olive Mills Face a Wastewater Squeeze

Greek olive mills face a new wastewater law that 2,300 three phase mills cannot meet. What it demands and why switching to…

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UC Davis Olive Center Brings Olive Oil Tasting to the Mall

The UC Davis Olive Center is at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, teaching visitors to spot fresh olive oil. How campus olives became…

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Salad Dressing Study: The Amount of Fat Matters More Than the Type

A Purdue salad dressing study finds more fat means more carotenoids absorbed, and the type matters less. Why it doesn't prove olive…

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EU Olive Oil Action Plan: Tougher Tests, Sealed Bottles

Dacian Cioloş has unveiled an EU olive oil action plan: tougher fraud testing, a possible new grade and sealed bottles in restaurants.…

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Italy’s Olive Oil Blind Tasting Game Crowns a Sicilian Oil

In Slow Food's olive oil blind tasting game, over 2,000 Italian diners scored four hidden oils and picked a Sicilian winner. How…

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Olive Pollen Tops 2,000 Grains in Jaén as the Groves Flower

Olive pollen in Jaén passes 2,000 grains per cubic meter as 65 million trees flower. Who suffers, why olive country is different,…

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Olive Oil Price Crisis Hits the Front Page, IOC Says It Will Pass

The olive oil price crisis makes the FT front page and the IOC says it is not structural. Prices at origin, the…

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Brussels Opens a Third Round of Olive Oil Storage Aid

A third round of EU olive oil storage aid in eight months: up to 100,000 tons held off the market for 180…

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China’s Olive Oil Market Booms, With an Adulteration Warning

China's olive oil market grew 21% last year, but a Spanish ICEX report warns some importers blend it with cheaper oils. What…

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Olive Oil Grades Baffle Spanish Shoppers, Jaén Study Finds

Olive oil grades baffle Spain: under 30% of regular buyers know plain olive oil is a refined blend. What the Jaén study…

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A Harvester Built for Spain’s Traditional Olive Groves

Córdoba researchers unveil a canopy shaker harvester for traditional olive groves that catches up to 90% of the fruit. How it works…

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Greek Olive Oil’s Backroad Trade: Buying by the 17-Kilo Tin

Many Greek families buy olive oil from the grower in 17 kilo tins at about 3.50 euros a liter. How the Greek…

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Olive Oil Glut: IOC Says America Keeps the Trade Afloat

An olive oil glut is coming: the IOC now puts world output at 3.31 million tons. Why Barjol credits U.S. buyers and…

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Brazil Olive Oil Imports Hit a Record as Prices Sag

Brazil olive oil imports hit a record 65,000 tons, with Portugal supplying 55%. What the IOC figures show and why prices at…

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USDA Starts Olive Oil Quality Monitoring, Pompeian Signs Up First

USDA's Quality Monitoring Program now covers olive oil, and Pompeian is first in. How USDA olive oil quality monitoring works and what…

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Olive Council Defends Closed Meeting on Olive Oil Testing

Olive oil testing behind closed doors: the IOC barred observers from its chemists' meeting in Madrid. What critics said and what the…

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Spain Drought Puts the Next Olive Harvest at Risk

Spain's driest winter in some 70 years has farmers warning the next olive harvest could be cut in half. What the Spain…

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Olive Variety Identification Moves From Pits to DNA

Olive variety identification by DNA: Córdoba's IDolive checks a leaf against about 500 varieties in 20 days. How it works and why…

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Olive Oil and Memory: Spanish Study Links It to Better Recall

Olive oil and memory: older Spaniards who ate more virgin olive oil scored better on verbal memory tests. What the study found…

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Argentina Plans to Double Its Olive Production by 2020

Argentina's strategic plan expects olive oil and table olive output to double by 2020 on 110,720 hectares. What the numbers say, and…

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Olive Grove Soil Loss: 250 Years of Erosion at Montefrío

A study of Montefrío's olive groves finds 29 to 40% of fertile soil lost in 250 years, and that traditional farming was…

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Operation Lucerna: Spain Busts an Alleged Olive Oil Fraud Ring

Spanish police say palm, avocado and sunflower oils were passed off as olive oil in Jaén. What we know so far about…

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Olive Theft: Guardia Civil Recovers 8 Tons of Fruit in Córdoba

Olive theft in Córdoba: 34 people charged and 8 tons of stolen olives recovered in two weeks. How the theft works, and…

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Jaén Opens an ‘Active’ Olive Oil Museum at Geolit

Jaén's Active Museum of Olive Oil opens at Geolit: 7 million euros, a gastronomy center and olive routes. What is inside and…

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Fried in Olive Oil: Big Spanish Study Finds No Heart Link

A BMJ study of 40,757 Spaniards found no link between fried food and heart disease fried in olive or sunflower oil. What…

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EU Olive Oil Labeling Rules Rewritten Into One Clean Text

The EU has codified its olive oil labeling rules as Regulation 29/2012. What a bottle must say about origin, cold pressing, acidity…

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Spain Suspends Protection for the ‘Aceite de Jaén’ Label

The Aceite de Jaén PGI loses its temporary protection after a Granada court froze the application. Why a label for all of…

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China Orders Closer Checks on Italian Olive Oil Imports

China's AQSIQ tells inspectors to scrutinize Italian olive oil after reports that most 'Italian' oil holds foreign oil. Why the real issue…