Daily Archives: March 14, 2014

People shopping for high-quality olive oil may one day skip the Italian and Spanish varieties and reach for the Israeli brands.

The creation of an international market for its product is a distant goal of the Israeli Olive Board, according to its emissary, Adi Naali, who recently spoke to a gathering of some 50 people at an olive oil tasting event at the Toronto home of Robert and Galya Sarner.

Naali, the manager of the Israeli Olive Board, and his colleague, Moghira Younis, an adviser on olives, figs, grapes and pomegranates at the Ministry of Agriculture, spent an intensive week in the GTA teaching people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds about Israel’s burgeoning olive oil industry.

Government rejects OECD recommendation that the sale of blended olive oil with cheaper vegetable oils should be allowed, as part of an effort to modernise the country’s economy

Workers pack bottles of olive oil at the Gaea extra virgin olive oil factory near the town of Agrinio (Photo: Reuters) The government has no plans to lift laws banning the mixing of olive oil with other cheaper types of oil, MPs were told on Thursday, in a clear rejection of a much-touted proposal in a recent OECD competitiveness report.

“I would like to make clear in the most explicit and absolute way that the government does not intend to legislate, under any circumstances, the mixing of olive oil with other types of oil. We are clear on this and this message should get all parties so that this discussion is over,” Deputy Development Minister Thanasis Skordas said, in reply to a parliamentary question.

Skordas said that under law 4177/2013, the illegal mixing and trade of oils of different quality for sale is banned.