Olive Farmers Want Shops Liable and Panel Verdicts Made Final
Europe’s olive farming cooperatives want two changes to the quality rules: make whoever is holding a bottle when it is inspected, often the shop, responsible for its grade, and make a tasting panel’s first verdict on an oil final for its whole shelf life. The demands were set out this week by the cooperatives’ man in Brussels as talks on farm policy and the EU olive oil action plan move on. Here is what farmers are asking for, why, and what it would mean for the bottle you buy.
What the farmers want
Juan Corbalán is the Brussels delegate of Spain’s agri-food cooperatives federation, which chairs the olive oil section of the European farm lobby Copa-Cogeca. He laid out the sector’s wishlist in an interview with Olive Oil Times published on December 27.
| Demand | What it means |
|---|---|
| Liability for quality | Whoever holds the oil at inspection answers for its grade |
| Panel test | Same rules across Europe; first classification valid for the oil’s life |
| Bargaining power | Incentives for producer groups to merge and market together |
| Best-before dates | One standard instead of retailers asking for one, two or three years |
| The “olive oil” grade | A new, less confusing name for the refined blend |
| Storage aid | Higher trigger prices, written into law and activated automatically |
On liability, Corbalán was blunt: “We want whoever is holding the product to be responsible for its quality, as occurs under fruit and vegetables law. Not who sold it two years ago, but who has it now.” On the panel test, he said that once a panel has classed an oil as extra virgin, another test two years later with a different result should not invalidate it.
Why now
The background is October’s row in Spain. The consumer organization OCU said nine of the 34 extra virgin oils it tested were really only virgin, and that one extra virgin and one virgin oil were lampante. Big brands, including Hojiblanca and ArteOliva, disputed the tests and threatened legal action, arguing that their oil was extra virgin when it left their hands. The EU’s draft action plan for the sector, published in June, already raised quality control and labeling (EU Olive Oil Action Plan: Tougher Tests, Sealed Bottles), and farmers want their version of the rules in before it is settled.
Bargaining power is the other theme. In Spain, Corbalán said, there are more than 1,000 producer businesses, 900 of them cooperatives, while four companies control about 40 percent of the retail market. He wants the new farm policy to give producer groups incentives to merge, so they are big enough to market their members’ oil themselves.
What it would mean for shoppers
- Olive oil changes with time, light and heat. An oil that was extra virgin at bottling can honestly slip to virgin on a warm shelf a year later.
- Putting the burden on the holder would make shops care much more about storage and stock rotation.
- Making the first panel verdict final would protect producers, but the shopper buys the oil as it is on the day, not as it was when tested.
We explained why off-flavors appear, and how tasters spot them, in Fusty, musty, winey, rancid: the chemistry of off-flavours.
Both demands make sense from the mill’s side of the counter, and they pull in opposite directions for the consumer. A shop held responsible will push for fresher oil and faster turnover, which is good for you. A first verdict that lasts forever protects oil that may no longer deserve its label. If you want the grade on the bottle to mean something, look for a harvest date and buy the youngest bottle on the shelf.
Sources
- Olive Oil Times: EU Olive Farmers’ Wishlist for Change
- Olive Oil Times: Spanish Consumer Group Finds Nearly One in Three Olive Oils Mislabeled