The relaunch of the startsTerra d'Otranto DOP extra virgin olive oil, with the approval of the new specification which is based on three substantial pillars – guarantee of origin, very high quality of oil and freedom of enterprise – to give new impetus to EVO produced also with new crops resistant to Xylella fastidiosa.
The official announcement at the Chamber of Commerce of Lecce, at the conclusion of a long and meticulous work carried out by the President of the Consortium Giovanni Melcarne, which – we read in a note from Coldiretti Puglia – “it was strongly supported, in consideration of the foresight and quality of the renewal process, by Coldiretti and Unaprol, Consorzio Olivicolo Italiano”.
The new features contained in the Ministerial Decree regarding the cultivars with which oil with the protected denomination 'Terra d'Otranto' can be produced are particularly important. The product must contain for 60%, in addition to the traditional cultivars Cellina di Nardò and Ogliarola, also the new cultivars resistant/tolerant to Xylella, Leccino, FS17, Lecciana and Leccio del CornoThe production area of the olive groves falls within the entire province of Lecce and in part of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto, without limits on planting density, in the name of entrepreneurial freedom to be safeguarded.
In detail the new standards lower the acidity indexes and the peroxide number, to protect the quality of the product, for which it will be possible to use olives harvested by 15 November at the latest, while previously the deadline was January 31st and it will have to be mandatory packaged within the year of production, with the Body entrusted with the control which will be required to verify and carry out a pre-harvest estimate of the olives “in order to strengthen the traceability of the product, preventing – explains Coldiretti Puglia – any attempt to pass off as Made in Italy 'Terra d'Otranto', oil that has nothing to do with the production area".
The new specification also contains ato simplify all the rules to follow in the presentation and in the chemical, physical and organoleptic characteristics of the DOP product. A result worthy of note that further enriches the Apulian olive growing, present on over 370 thousand hectares of cultivated land, with 5 DOP extra virgin olive oils, 1 IGP Olio di Puglia. “Puglian olive growing is the largest green factory in Southern Italy – concludes Coldiretti Puglia – with 60 million olive trees, 40% of the surface area in the South, almost 32% national and 8% community and a value of 1 billion euros of GSP (Gross Saleable Production) of extra virgin olive oil”.
