Olive oil labelling
compared to other vegetable fats, of Europe's olive oil are now in
place. But reliant on honest labelling, the market could remain
vulnerable. A new study from the Finnish food watchdog is
encouraging but shows oil suppliers need to tighten up their
labelling skills.
In 2003 Brussels recommended to nation states a programme to control the 'genuineness', 'quality' and 'true labelling of olive oils'. While the study by the National Food Agency found that all samples tested matched their labels, defects and deficiencies in labelling were detected.
"All the studied 48 samples were genuine olive oils and corresponded to the category indicated by the packer on the original labelling. However, minor labelling defects were found in 35 samples," said the agency.
In fact only four samples fully complied with the general and special labelling requirements valid at the time of the inspection.
In a bid to crack down on inaccurate labelling, the agency said the customs laboratory would be responsible for the obligations of Finland with respect to the EU control programme.
"The olive oil samples represented various categories and countries of origin in accordance with the oils marketed in Finland, and included both oils marketed directly to consumers and oils for institutional kitchens," the agency added.
European regulation 1019/2002 that governs the genuine olive oils in Europe contains a raft of special requirements to protect the labelling and the quality requirements for various names under which the oils are sold.
Extra virgin olive oil, for example, is a virgin olive oil with 'perfect flavour' anda maximum content of free fatty acids of 1 g/100 g (max. 3.3 g/100 g in virgin olive oil). Other olive oils may contain refined olive oils. Oliveresidue oil is produced from the pulp obtained in the extraction process.
Recent EU agreements to slash huge subsidies to the olive oil sectors angered Spanish agriculture workers, a leading producer in the EU bloc.
The Commission is seeking to cut down the amount of subsidies it pays to farmers across the bloc and as ten new members, prepare to join, Brussels recently elected to break the link - decoupling - between the amount of subsidies it pays member states and production levels.
