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<pre>Alan

Just remember that companies pay to have their products on display in the
supermarkets here. It may or may not have anything to do with the actual sales
of their products. Pringles potato chips were on the shelves for over 10 years
before the company even started to make a profit.

Gloria

AlFreedo@aol.com wrote:

> From: AlFreedo@aol.com
>
> I don't have "figures" on American preferences of light vs extra virgin, but
> on the supermarket shelves, most of the olive oil is extra virgin. In a
> large supermarket chain here in Michigan, the shelf space allocated to olive
> oil has increased 3-4 fold over the last several years.
>
> Alan Friedman

-
http://natures-emporium.com/
Stones and minerals, tumbled stones, gemstone fountains and fountain stones
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<pre>I agree with Adrian and would go on to say that awareness is largely a
socio/economic matter - you eat better and more knowledgeably if you have
more income and you also eat out more. In the UK the media, particularly the
papers, also come into the socio/economic equation - a reader of the Sun
won't read much on oliveoil but will if he looks at,say, The Sunday Times.
I imagine its broadly the same in all the non-latin countries and applies to
N. America too.
Edward
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bramley <bramleyp@one.net.au>
To: OliveOil@onelist.com <OliveOil@onelist.com>
Date: 25 August 1999 0:08
Subject: RE: [OliveOil] olivio


>From: "Phil Bramley" <bramleyp@one.net.au>
>
>Is there a good general awareness, in the Northern Hemisphere, of the
>differences between extra virgin, virgin, pure etc. Not a lot down under
but
>olive oil on the table, as opposed to the medicine cabinet, is a recent
>phenomenon!
>
>Phil
>
>
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<pre>Thanks all for the comments on 'extra virgin' and other oils. Perhaps we
need to start afresh and call it something else that consumers will
understand. Light olive oil does send the wrong message to the consumer as
does the distinction between extra and just virgin.

The other subject that needs comment is truth in labelling! We rarely see
bottles of olive oil labelled with the pressing date stamped on the bottle.
I have seen some but it is a rarity. I think it is important for producers
of olive oil to label their bottles with the date of pressing so that
consumers (especially if you are targeting your product to the boutique
market) can see how far down the track the oil has gone. I have even seen
one of our major supermarket chains displaying extra virgin olive oil
(imported from the UK (Edward!!!) displayed on the hot food display cabinet
under glaring spotlight. No wonder consumers are confused.

On the weekend we were exhibitors at a rural field day (sustainable living)
and had Italian, Spanish and our own olive oil out for tasting. The older
generation of visitors would not even taste the oil, their childhood
memories of olive oil in the medicine cabinet could not be denied, however
most people seemed to prefer the newer pressed oil (ours) in favour of the
older (no pressing date displayed) oils.

Phil
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<pre>Phil et al

An interesting note to the world. As a grower, processor and retailer of extra
virgin olive oils I am, quite frankly, amazed. Amazed because my one of my
first commercial releases (1998) was a single variety (Mission) that was dated
and even timed (an early winter press). I also did a run, in that year, of a
late harvest Manzanillo/Verdale blend. Both oils were bloody good and the
first mentioned ended up on the tables of some famous hotel whose name escapes
me at the moment.

This year (1999) I have done a single pressing of Verdale which is not for
sale. This one (only 75 litres or so) is for me. There has got to be some
benefit in growing the bloody things, harvesting them and then
pressing..................! Although I only gained about 15% (wgt by vol) I
can assure you I have an absolutely beautiful oil. Even though a late harvest
it is pale green in colour, viscous to pleasing extremities and such a taste!
This is my families oil for 1999.

Regards

Peter

Phil Bramley wrote:

> From: "Phil Bramley" <bramleyp@one.net.au>
>
> Thanks all for the comments on 'extra virgin' and other oils. Perhaps we
> need to start afresh and call it something else that consumers will
> understand. Light olive oil does send the wrong message to the consumer as
> does the distinction between extra and just virgin.
>
> The other subject that needs comment is truth in labelling! We rarely see
> bottles of olive oil labelled with the pressing date stamped on the bottle.
> I have seen some but it is a rarity. I think it is important for producers
> of olive oil to label their bottles with the date of pressing so that
> consumers (especially if you are targeting your product to the boutique
> market) can see how far down the track the oil has gone. I have even seen
> one of our major supermarket chains displaying extra virgin olive oil
> (imported from the UK (Edward!!!) displayed on the hot food display cabinet
> under glaring spotlight. No wonder consumers are confused.
>
> On the weekend we were exhibitors at a rural field day (sustainable living)
> and had Italian, Spanish and our own olive oil out for tasting. The older
> generation of visitors would not even taste the oil, their childhood
> memories of olive oil in the medicine cabinet could not be denied, however
> most people seemed to prefer the newer pressed oil (ours) in favour of the
> older (no pressing date displayed) oils.
>
> Phil
>
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<pre><< I agree that Coca Cola was a bad example but a good one is Olivio. >>

Brian,

In reading the stuff that followed (either we don't have that product here,
or I've just not noticed it because I don't buy oils of that ilk), I
absolutely agree with you that its an attempt to take the name of olive oil
and sell some amalgomized thing using benefits that it might not have.

But even you said that it was sold as a margarine style spread. They don't
even try to make it out to be olive oil. They don't call it olive oil.
"Look and feel" infringement can be used if they are copying someone's label
closely enough, but it doesn't sound like that's the problem here.

So for someone to have olives on the label, what percentage has to be olive
oil? What if it's a tapanade, which has olives and a bunch of other
stuff...is it okay to put olives on that? Where do we draw the line?

You know, the thing is, I DO understand your annoyance at the product you
mentioned and the company that made it. I don't like it either (I just
asked my wife, by the way, and she says that it IS sold here). I even
understand the annoyance and feeling of helplessness sometimes at trying to
fight huge corporations. But remember that those huge corporations are also
the ones that DO feed the masses affordably. I'm not going into quality of
products...some are great, some are trash...but they do the job we can't.
And in a free enterprise economy, consumer demand is king. If they can
market that product while being truthful in their labeling (ingredients),
then I have to support their legal right to do so.

Freedom is a double edged sword. It's given us an open market that succeeds
where socialism and communism fails. But it's not perfectly fair. Given
the alternative, though, I'll take capitalism. It produces the kind of
economy that allows people to pay the prices we ask for in our EVOO oils.
So we benefit...we surely do.

Sincere best wishes,

Antony Chessor
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<pre>Anthony,

I agree that Coca Cola was a bad example but a good one is Olivio.
If you have not seen this it is a mixture of canola oil, olive oil,
water and all the usual suspects of detergents, colouring, stabilizers
etc. and it is sold as a spread - margarine style. The name is a
straight steal from "olive" and just in case you failed to get the
message it has olive fruit and leaves on the pack.
It is an outrageous attempt by one of the big corporations to steal
the health image of the olive for the marketing of a product that is
mainly canola, water and chemicals. Any health effects from the olive
oil would be minimal as I am sure they use the lowest grades and the
chemicals added would do you more harm than the benefits from the olive
oil. Why should the growers be left trying to defend the olive from such
libel? How can they organise resource to combat the money of such large
corporations? Why shouldn't the government as a representative of the
community interest take action against such misrepresentation?

I accept your point about historical myths - it is a burden that
most countries suffer from although the Italians are more resistant than
most and rejected attempts to turn them into modern inheritors of the
Roman Empire. USA, Australia and others..... have some growing up to do
in this area.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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