I think it prudent not to comment specifically about the commercial activities of any producer or group. I’m sure that your average olive oil maker is quite capable of weighing up the pros and cons of signing up to any new standards organisation. But logically I’d think that the 3E model really won’t have much of an effect on improving the overall standard of EVOO as you would think that those signing up to 3E will be smallish producers who already meet their criteria.

On the other hand, if the USDA standard for FFA was tightened even slightly over the existing IOC standard, say to 0.6% then the overall standard of EVOO widely available to US consumers would improve.

What would I set? I guess it doesn’t matter what I think. The lower the better of course, but in reality, any abrupt significant reduction of FFA level would have significant socio-economic ramifications for EU producers (and whether New World producers like it or not the Europeans believe they own ‘Brand EVOO’ – they created it of course!). But a gradual lowering of the official FFA level (even if driven by a large importing nation like the US), would allow producers wherever they are, to adjust their practices in a positive way. And the consumers of EVOO would be the ultimate winners.

RG

What do you think of the Association 3E standard? Based on what you say, the peroxide value would be only modestly better than the Aussie average , and the FFA actually not as good; also, I’m not quite clear on how the sensory profile is set, though if it is the same scale as the IOC it’s clearly better than just median of fruitiness > 0 . But they do add in strong documentation and traceability standards, Still, a significant step up, no? What sort of standard would you set?

I get your logic about the FFA of show entries being lower than the average oil. However, one nice thing about the Australian National Show is that its class structure is based on the production volume of the oil being exhibited. So it is pretty easy to distinguish the boutique producers from those producing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of litres of that oil. The FFA of the large producer class (Class 3) over the last 8 years is less than 0.01% higher than the show average, and in some years has even been lower. Many of the oils in class 3 have production volumes of 100,000 litres or more and are the oils that end up on Australain supermarkets as produce of Australia.

Also the biggest olive oil lab here in Australia published the average FFA of oils submitted to them in 2002/2003 (Mailer 2005). Now some of these oils would have been submitted to the lab because the producer saw a problem, and as a result some of these tested oils would never have made it onto a retail shelf. So this average probably overestimates the average FFA of what was actually out there. And it was….. 0.28%. The National Show average that year was 0.23%. Also, it would be fair to say that over the last 8 years, the FFA would have gone down a litte as the Oz industry was still in its relative infancy back then. Anyway if we split the difference the value is still around 3 to 4 times lower than the IOC, and now USDA standard.

Some years ago I was involved in a tasting for an independent consumer magazine that was doing an article on supermarket olive oils. They did a survey, taking oils off supermarket shelves across Australia. These supermarkets had high turnover, and the oils were selected well within their best by dates. They tested them for FFA, peroxide and UV. Unfortunately I can’t say too much as the info was given to me in confidence, but lets just say that many of the FFA’s of European EVOO’s were at the upper end of the FFA range for EVOO rather than the lower.

My post stems out of a bit of frustration. Back in 1997 when the Australian industry was in its infancy and largely disorganised, our equivalent of the USDA produced a set of EVOO standards. They took the easy road and stuck with the IOC standard at the time, and also gave the policing role of all EVOO’s (both imported and domestic) to the trade associations of importers here in Australia. Despite the efforts of many, to tighten the standards, they haven’t changed since. So from experience, once a standard is put in place it will stay there for a very long time. The previous USDA standards were published in 1946! The Government bodies have more to think about than olive oil, so their attitude is ‘job done’ don’t bother us, you had your chance. We’re now looking at Asian vegetables, or whatever now.

So this was a golden opportunity to improve the average standard of EVOO’s on US supermarket shelves. It could have been a great win for US consumers but instead very little will change as the FFA limit is so high that all the current oils will continue to make the D- grade. So little will change in that respect anyway. Finally, I’m not sure that the new standards will preclude the use of pure and light on labels. Unless I missed some fine print somewhere, as long as the grade is stated on the label somewhere, and all the other bits are not misleading, then it meets the legalities. But as always I’m happy to stand corrected.

Your idea about the survey is a good one. However you’d have to ask, who would do it, and who would pay for it. The COOC would on face value seem the logical choice, but it would be easy to level the accusation that the results were biased. So it would have to be a body with no commercial or political interest in olive oil. Now that would be a bit harder.

Cheers once again. RG

In criticizing the IOOC (and now, it seems, USDA) EVOO standard, you’ve a few times noted that even average Aussie EVOOs submitted to the Australian National Show some while back were better than the standard. I’m sure you’re also comparing it to what you see in your own consultancy practice privately. But is this really a fair standard? Presumably, after all, makers of merely mediocre olive oils wouldn’t be submitting to a national competition, and wouldn’t be engaging the professional services of a consultant taster, blender, and scientific analyst. Ie, isn’t it likely that what you’re really seeing is that “average” premium EVOO easily meets the criteria of a high-quality EVOO — in which case, it’s actually a pretty good standard?

What we really need, ISTM, is a blind, nationwide, random pull of supermarket labeled “EVOO” off the shelves of grocery stores and boutique shops in the US, Italy, Greece, and Spain, to see what’s really out there. I also think it’d be good to have a genuine “gold standard” EVOO, like “Premium Grade EVOO,” but that kind of “extra-high” standard is always resisted by the mass industry (cf organics, environmental standards, etc), and random testing after the standards are implemented to ensure that companies are living up to the standards.

Also, one very good thing about the proposed standards is the elimination of the ability to call highly-refined olive oil “pure” olive oil.