Maybe he could have kept the price lower, instead of "shooting" 30 euros per liter for a bottle of extra virgin olive oil! Which, of course, is worth it all. But already keeping it at 18/20 euros for a good product would have had the right "weight", without the effect of scaring the consumer who is already disoriented when faced with the olive oil shelf. Because then the attention of those who make the newspaper headlines, as promptly happened in thearticle who talks about it, inevitably focuses on the price and not on the reason why this same price is fully justified.
In any case, credit must be given Minister of Agriculture and Food and Forestry Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, of having drawn attention to the health effects of olive oil. This is an aspect that is well known in the olive oil sector, but which has "bounced" in national newspapers - who knows why! – is hailed as an absolute novelty.
The occasion for Lollobrigida's intervention was National cancer prevention week, in celebrating which the minister highlighted how it is not surprising if a liter of oil can reach very high prices: “Some products are of high quality and bring benefits, they become a medicine… and a good, healthy medicine, without particular contraindications must have the right price and the right social recognition”.
Words well received by the sector, which obviously hopes that words will soon move on to actions. As Unapothere that through the mouth of his president Tommaso Loiodice highlights: “We have always maintained that the social value of olive growing is one of the strengths that gives it a role of fundamental and indispensable importance on the national scene. If only we could imagine our territories without the presence of olive trees, the scenario would be ghostly, as it is today for those who cross the lands devastated by Xylella, not to mention the economic importance and cultural reflections that in the local communities of the center south assign it a role of strategic importance. This year, Italian producers have seen the right margins recognized and the concept that this is determined by a pure economic situation linked to the poor production of our competitors in the Mediterranean area cannot prevail. Extra virgin olive oil, as the Minister rightly states, is a product that is good for health and from a health economics perspective, prevention is always better than cure".
Attributing the right price to extra virgin olive oil, as well as the right social recognition to the farmers who produce it, is a process that starts from consumer awareness. This is one of Unapol's prerogatives, highlights Loiodice “which has always done its best to disseminate the intrinsic benefits” of what, in addition to being a good and palatable food, also represents a real investment in health.
"Because of this – concluded the Unapol president – I take the liberty of urging Minister Lollobrigida, as already suggested a few months ago also as FOOI (Italian Olive Oil Supply Chain) to Undersecretary La Pietra, an awareness campaign, to be launched in agreement with the Ministry of Health, which invites consumers to constant use of this elixir. Buying a bottle of extra virgin olive oil cannot and should not be considered a cost, but an investment in your well-being. The hope is that we are at the beginning of an epochal change in approach to this wonderful and precious main product of the Mediterranean diet".
