05 Mar

Italian police crack down on olive oil fraud

By Malcolm Moore, Police in Italy have arrested 23 people and confiscated 85 farms in an operation that has exposed the scale of the country’s fraudulent olive oil trade. More than 400 officers took part in Operation Golden Oil after an investigation discovered as many as 91 people may have been involved in passing off […]

29 Feb

EU Seeks Answers From Italy Over Olive Oil Labels

The European Commission has given Italy two months to explain why it obliges olive oil producers to mark the origin of the olives on product labels in contravention of E.U. laws, a spokesman said Friday. “As far as we are concerned, that is not in conformity with European legislation, where voluntary labeling is possible but […]

17 Jan

Italian virgin olive oil must have label

A new law in Italy requires producers of virgin and extra-virgin olive oil to include labels indicating where the olives were picked and pressed. The purpose is to guarantee authenticity and quality, a report from Rome said. The consumer group Codacons likes the new law but thinks it’s not enough to eliminate fraud. Members want […]

17 Dec

Santo Stefano inaugurates an ecological olives’ press

How can olives produce “green” electric power?? Lucchi and Guastalli, an olive oil producing firm of Santo Stefano di Magra, in Liguria’s eastern province has recently inaugurated a new kind of olive-pressing machine, which could herald a real technological revolution in the arch-shaped Italian region, noted to be the major olive-producer of Northern Italy. The […]

06 Dec

Adopting an Olive Tree helps to protect the environment

After Nudo, an organic farm in the green hills of Umbria, Italy, proposes an unusual gift idea for Christmas: Adoption of an olive tree, a present that will help to preserve nature. The olive tree is one of the oldest cultivated plants of humanity. Since antique times it is a symbol for peace, longevity, health […]