No, really not the loose olive tree! The sale in the supermarket, or in any other point of purchase, of extra virgin olive oil to be tapped like wine cannot be tolerated. Neither in terms of safety nor in terms of legality, nor in terms of environmental sustainability.
It supports it Agr together, the coordination that brings together Cia, Confagricoltura, Copagri and the Alliance of Agri-food Cooperatives who wrote to Ministry of Agricultural Policies so that it takes steps to forcefully reject the proposal of the EU Commission to authorize the sale of bulk olive oil on a voluntary basis which provides for the amendment of the Implementing Regulation 29/2012 and would involve serious security, market, reputational and fraud risks.
"The first risk - he writes Agr together – regards the olive oil quality and health safety for the consumer which would be jeopardized by marketing the product in open, refillable bottles. Modes that would not give any guarantee even on compliance with hygiene standards. The proposal of the EU Commission – he continues – would also increase the risk of fraud, as it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to monitor the quality of the olive oil remaining in the container after its opening. To be compromised it would then be there transparency towards consumers, who would not have guarantees on the correspondence between what is indicated on the label and what is contained in the filled bottle. All of this – he points out Agr together in the letter to the Mipaaf - would frustrate the efforts of the operators in the sector who over the years have worked hard to guarantee the quality of the olive oil placed on the market and invested in raising awareness of the quality and nutritional values of this excellent product and symbol of the Mediterranean diet”.
In any case, for Agr together, authorizing the sale of bulk products on a voluntary basis would not respond, as the Commission would like, to consumer concerns regarding environmental sustainability: the sale of bulk products at retail, in fact, does not reduce, nor eliminate, the environmental impact of packaging, since the product would still have to be repackaged in containers in stores. Such containers would not offer the same level of hygienic guarantees as standardized packaging, given that they would not be subject to mandatory checks for compliance with environmental regulations.
Agr together therefore strongly requests the support of the Italian administration on maintaining the obligation to bottle olive oil, in order not to jeopardize its safety, quality and reputation, as well as for the good of producers and consumers.
