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<pre>I'm a turkish growers with a few tress, I would like to clear some
misconceptions and this is a reply to more than one posting.
1.In the1998-1999 season turkish growers were only able to get an avarage of
0.75$/lt for their crops. 45% of the yield was left on the trees because of
the low price.Only after almost all the available oil was bought by
merchants did the price go up to 2.10$/lt in the domestic market.Turkish
growers aren't selling their products cheap because its government
sussidized, but because they have to eat.The living standart of the average
turkish farmer is far below any US producer Getting short changed is the
fate of all producers regardless of country.
2.The concept of "other" countries selling "cheap, low quality" oil and
destroying US growers is not a valid argument.The criteria for olive oil is
a set standard and it relies on the acidity level of olive oil. Extra virgin
oil means, olive oil at an acidity level of less than "1" produced by
pressing the olives.If its not pressed its not extra virgin.The acidty level
of any oliveoil can be altered chemically or by mixing oils of different
acidity.The chemical process strips out all flavor aand aroma from the
oil.This property of the process is used to obtain "light"olive oil which is
mixing chemically refined oil with a low (or none) amount of pressed
oil.The product lacks the strong taste and aroma of extra virgin and virgin
oils, but is believed to be the taste prefered by the US market(?).Olives
grown in the US aren't a different species and they are pressed in the same
kind of equipment.Some countries are not as fortunate as the US and people
have to work for a lot less.US citizens wouldn't chew gum for the daily wage
of a Turkish olive picker.4 DOLLARS per DAY. US companies go to the third
world to use this labor and then sell their products for large profits and
this seems to bother no one.But the products of the same countries suddenly
become cheap and low quality if they try to sell their own.Agricultural
production needs detailed planning and market research specially for grove
production. Think trice before planting those trees.
3.The price of hazelnut oil has been more expensive than oliveoil in Turkey
in the past 3 years. It's easier to mix oliveoil with oliveoil.
4.The law of economics is supply and demand. Wholesellers, retailers, exims
and even producers will do everything they can to increase sales.
5.Trying to setup a certificate of origin system is almost to the point of
funny. This is oil not wine.You can't keep it for years, you don't drink
bottles or even spoons of this, you put it on your salads and cook with it
(when you're cooking with it you shouldn't even be using extra virgin olive
oil. Any heat above 60 degrees celcius destroys any aroma the oil has.).I
really would like to meet someone who can tell me where an oil was produced
after its been bottled in Tuscany.The effort to create a regional favorites
system will only cause a price hike for consumers, a price fall for
producers and more profit for bottler/sellers.
Necmettin Ovacık
Kucukkuyu/Edremit
----- Original Message -----
From: M&CP Farms <
m&cpfarms@thegrid.net>
To: <
OliveOil@onelist.com>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 1999 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: [OliveOil] The Olive Oil Scandal
> From: "M&CP Farms" <
m&cpfarms@thegrid.net>
>
> WELCOME to the real world. The small producer has always been sacrifished
> on the alter of political expedience and money. Example: price supports
to
> the EU farmers
> when they are selling below cost of production into the US markets. Here
> again agriculture is sacrifised in the name of world peace to not
> antagonize Nato members.
> Maurice Penna
>
>
> ----------
> > From: Volker Piasta <
piasta@sirt.pisa.it>
> > To: maillist olive oil <
OliveOil@onelist.com>
> > Subject: [OliveOil] The Olive Oil Scandal
> > Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 6:36 AM
> >
> > From: "Volker Piasta" <
piasta@sirt.pisa.it>
> >
> > It is well known that the olive oil INDUSTRY uses these methods to fraud
> the
> > consumer. Mixing non olive oil with olive oil is illegal. Mixing refined
> > olive oil with extra vergine and sell it as extra vergine is illegal,
> too.
> > Selling non tuscan olive oil as tuscan is a little bit less illegal
> because
> > they use very tricky methods. The big italian brand Carapelli for
> instance
> > has made a big TV promotion that shows the Tuscan countryside while the
> > speaker talks with an +ACI-inconfondibile accento toscano+ACI- (a non
> confusable
> > tuscan accent). At the end he says 'Carapelli, the olive oil with the
non
> > confusable tuscan accent' and I bet that nearly everybody believes that
> this
> > oil is tuscan oil. But they never say it. On the label you find the
> writing
> > 'bottled in ... (some well known place in Tuscany)'. In reality, nobody
> > knows if this oil is made from tuscan or even italian olives , it is
said
> > nowhere. The new European laws protect the industry, not the small
> producer
> > and not at all the consumer. I have not yet read the law but it looks
> like
> > that it is sufficient to add a certain quantity of italian olive oil to
> an
> > imported olive oil and they can call it 'italian'. In the USA things are
> > even worse, as we could read in one of the last messages, not even the
> term
> > 'extra vergine' is protected, so they even don't fraud if they sell
> > something else.
> > These things make me very angry because they show me that often the
> > governments don't protect those who need protection (small producers,
> > consumers) but those who have the money to buy the politicians.
> > Volker
> >
> >
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</pre>
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