OIL LABEL; ZAIA: AN INSTRUMENT TO DEFEND MADE- IN- ITALY PRODUCTS

The secretary for Agriculture stated: “Today we have an instrument at our disposal to defend our oil producers and to shelter made- in- Italy products”. The secretary personally thanked the European commissary Marianne Fischer Boll for her sensibility towards producers and consumers. The latter will finally be able to recognize the products they buy. The Oil Managing Committee of the European Commission in Bruxelles approved – with the only apposite vote of Greece and the abstention of Sweden-the amendment to reg. n° 1019/02 regarding oil-labelling. This new regulation is going to be published in the European official Gazette, and it is going to be applied from 1st July 2009. Zaia underlined” that the compulsory indication of origin of extra virgin and virgin olive oil is a precious result of a battle Italy led with conviction .It represents an important step in the defence of quality and transparence, because the consumer has been given the possibility to recognize the Italian products from other olive oils coming from other countries. Everybody can exactly know what s/he is buying.