Oil, Coldiretti: “Serious mistake to remove expiration date”

Removing the expiration date on olive oil to encourage the disposal of old stocks to the detriment of consumers is a mistake that jeopardizes the quality of supply in Italy. This is according to Coldiretti President Roberto Moncalvo in commenting on the outcome of the votes of the Senate Committee on European Union Policies, which examined the 2015 European Law aimed at amending Article 7 of the law n. 9 of 2013 in the part that provides for a minimum storage period of not more than eighteen months for olive oil. In fact, a rule has been approved that favors the disposal of old oil and – Coldiretti explains – instead, it does away with an important safeguard for the consumer, since numerous studies have shown that over time olive oil changes its characteristics.

With aging – specifies Coldiretti – oil begins to gradually lose all those organoleptic qualities that characterize it (polyphenols, antioxidants, vitamins) and that are the basis of the properties that make it a valuable food for health as they slow down the degenerative processes of the body. With the transposition of EU indications – Coldiretti explains – the expiration date will no longer be 18 months, but can be freely decided by the bottlers themselves, which is effectively tantamount to cancelling it, since everyone will be able to put it according to their own commercial interests and there is a clear risk that many will take advantage of it to dispose of old oil. Italy – underlines Coldiretti – produced in the last year 300 million kilos obtained from a heritage of about 250 million plants on 1.1 million hectares of land, with a turnover of about 2 billion euros and a labor employment of 50 million working days.