Title: How to Buy the Best Olive Oil
Headings: How to Buy The Best Olive Oil
How to Buy The Best Olive Oil
1. Expiration date
2. Harvest date
3. Variety of olive
Source: International Olive Oil Council
4. Bottle
5. Olive oil grade
One last thought
-Spain-
-Italy-
-Greece-
Elena Paravantes RDN

Content: -Spain-
Largest producer of olive oil. Most Spanish olive oil is produced by mill cooperatives. The cooperative system in many cases does not incentivize growers to harvest their olives early and produce quality oil because the formula used to determine payments to the member farmer emphasizes oil quantity over quality—oil yield increases, but quality degrades, as the olive is left unpicked and becomes overripe. There is also a substantial segment of premium olive oil producers in Spain who, like premium producers worldwide, tend to harvest early in order to preserve the flavor and polyphenol content of the oil. -Italy-
Italy is the second-largest producer of olive oil after Spain. Traditionally, olive oil has been considered primarily an Italian product by consumers in the U.S. and European markets, and the association of Italy with olive oil is still prevalent today. Consequently, Italy is home to large blending and bottling operations owned by multinational companies. These companies import large quantities of olive oil from foreign producers, primarily in the Mediterranean region, which is then blended for consistent taste profiles. There is concern throughout the Italian industry that the national brand reputation is at risk of being damaged by low-quality blends that contain very little Italian oil, but are marketed as Italian products. -Greece-
Greece is the third largest producer of olive oil, but little of its oil is exported as a Greek product.