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The 10th annual Montalto Vineyard And Olive Grove Abundance Festival will be held this weekend, July 7-8 at the Redhill, Victoria property. A celebration of the olive harvest, the event includes olive and food-inspired market stalls, freshly pressed olive oils, cooking demonstrations, relaxing olive oil massages and Montalto Estate wine tastings. There’s also a martini bar, the Piazza Café, an olive tree nursery and entertainment including live music, an olive pit spitting competition and a kids’ corner with face painting and tractor-drawn carriage rides. More information https://www.montalto.com.au/olives-and-estate-produce/olive-festival.html
The official EU organic logo is now obligatory on all pre-packaged organic foods after the two-year transition period came to an end on 1 July. This mandatory status relates to products from EU Member States, however, and the logo remains optional for non-packed and imported products.
The launch of a new research project investigating the production of bio-plastics from olive mill waste waters promises an environmentally friendly use for the 30 billion litres of waste water generated around the world each year. The Oli-Pha project is the result of a amalgamation of industries, research facilities and universities from major olive oil producing regions in Europe and Latin America. The olive processing, plastics, packaging, food engineering , and environmental sectors have joined to realize the venture, which was launched in the Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia de Castelldefels in Barcelona in mid June this year.
On the Dalmatian island of Brac, in cooperation with the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, extensive research and inventory of indigenous varieties of olives has begun. The purpose of the project is to create a basis for branding varietal extra virgin olive oil which can conquer the European market. The olives need to be of high quality with a distinctive taste and research has already begun on the eastern side of the island, where a rare variety of buhavica is grown, buhavica are considered to be authentic Brac olives, reports daily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija.
An olive oil producer described the recent tree pruning in Rabat, Malta, which led to heavy public criticism, as “butchering”. Referring to photos of a pruned tree in Rabat, Sam Cremona, who has about 500 olive trees of his own, said the extensive wound caused by the chainsaw cannot be treated. A landscapist engaged by the Rabat local council to clear up broken branches and cut “sick” ones was recently involved in an incident with conservationist Foppe Seekles. The conservationist was upset at “aggressive” pruning he believed was “killing the trees”. After the incident, the council’s contract manager immediately stopped the pruning contract and Rabat mayor Sandro Craus said the council was seeking advice on the matter.
The major region of olive oil production region in the world, Jaén is home to over 65 million olive trees which are currently flowering, resulting in serious consequences for those with allergies in the province.
Extreme pollen counts have been recorded of more than 2,000 grains per cubic metre. Aggravation for allergy sufferers usually begins at about 50 grains, so this abnormally high level is causing extreme reactions in sensitized people living in the area.
The Italian police on Monday uncovered a fraud operation that doctored cheap oil to sell it as extra virgin olive oil, local media reported. According to the reports, 17 people were put under investigation on fraud-related charges, and three commercial operations were brought under observation in the central regions of Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Lazio. Police confiscated 5,000L of counterfeit oil kept in silos, and other 2,500L in garages where the fraudulent oil was being bottled, with an overall estimated market value of over 500,000 euro (US$630,000), local news agency Ansa said.
The Financial Times has devoted space to the turbulent olive oil market of the ‘Big Three’ – Spain, Italy and Greece. Pointing out that the price of olive oil has dropped to a 10-year low since demand has sunk due to the economic crisis, the article also correlates the fading of olive oil consumption with competition from cheaper vegetable oils, such as sunflower oil. In Spain, sunflower oil costs only €1.25L, while olive oil is sold at €1.99 and extra virgin at €3.25. Domestic consumption of olive oil in Spain will fall back to the levels of 2002 and in Italy and Greece to 1995 levels, the article states, citing the International Olive Oil Council.
European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Cioloş has promised tighter scrutiny of olive oil labels, on being questioned by Olive Oil Times about seeming flaws in the current system. European Commission (EC) olive oil marketing laws already provide for checks on label accuracy and require EU member states to report annually on details including how many label verification requests they have received, and their outcomes.
An ancient Sicilian olive tree worth €20,000 was delivered to Sherries Garden Centre in Burmarrad this morning, having been delivered from Catania. This particular olive is three trees which, over the years, became one. It is 1,000 years old and has been bought to Malta for a private individual. In the past, olive trees were planted in threes rather than in singles and as decades passed they became works of art following the sun, twisting with winds and growing majestically.